r>AKF.8II>E: CI.ASSIO* 



No. 141 




^ <^ ^ ^ <^ 



Ike, 

GREAT LAKES 
SERIES 



^ # «S» ^ 

# ^ # 



^#St<L-»>^#»%fe»>\fe»>^tfe#>\fe#>%ft#^^^fe»»V-#SV-»>^lfe»»V-»> ^ lfe#m-»>V»» 



^ 



Lake Erie and the Story 
of Commodore Perry 

By 
EDWARD PAYSON MORTON, Ph. D. 






<8> 4|> ^ ^ «|» ^ 

<l» # # «l» # # 

^ ^ «^ «^ '^ ^ 

^ # # ^ 



AINSWORTH & COMPANY 
...CHICAGO... 



^ # 



Graded List of Lakeside Classics 

AND 

BOOKS FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 



Order by number. Any book sent, postpaid, on receipt of list price. Books 
to the value of one dollar or more sent by mail or express, prepaid, on re- 
ceipt of price named, less ten per cent discount. 

FIRST GRADE. 

No. 64. Aesop's Fables. Large type. 

Containing The Wind and the Sun. 

The Fox and the Crow. The Rat and 

the Elephant, The Thirsty Crow. 

Price 5 cents. 
No. 63. The Story of King Midas. Adapted 

from Hawthorne's Golden Touch. By 

Sara A. Craigie. Price four cents. 
SECOND GRADE. 
Fairy Tales for Little Readers. By 

Sarah J. Burke, recently principal, 

P. S. No. 103, Manhattan, New York 

City. 133 pages. Containing Little 

Red Riding Hood, Cinderella. Three 

Bears, etc., etc. Price 30 cents. 
The Story of Washington. By Jessie R. 

Smith. A children's book by chil- 
dren. Illustrated. Full cloth. Price 

25 cents. 
Four True Stories. By Jessie R. Smith. 

The Famous Santa Rosa Reproduc- 
tion Stories: Columbus. Capt. John 

Smith, Capt. Miles Standish, Ben- 
jamin Franklin, One volume. Large, 

clear type. Cloth binding. Price 36 

cents. 
No. 66. The Story of the Pilgrims. Large. 

clear type. Price 5 cents. 
No. 67. Adventures of a Brownie. Part 

I. By Dinah M. Craik. Price 5 cts. 
No. 70. Stories from Hiawatha. Hia- 
watha's childhood, The Feast of 

Mondamin, Hiawatha's Fasting. By 

Susan F. Chase. Price 5 cents. 

THIRD GRADE. 

Tales from Wonderland. By Rudolph 

Baumbach. Translated by Helen B. 

Dole, and adapted for American 

children by W. S. M. Silber. 12mo; 

cloth, vi 4- 122 pages. Price 30 cts. 
The eight stories in this little volume 
have been selected from two of the 
author's most popular books, and have 
been especially adapted for American 
children familiar with the vocabulary 
of the Third Reader. 
Tales of Discovery on the Pacific Slope. 

By Margaret Graham Hood. Cloth. 

Fully illustrated. 172 pages. Price 

50 cents. 
No. 6ft. The Ugly Duckling. From An- 
dersen's Fairy Tafes. Translated by 

Florence E. Homer. Price 5 cents. 
No. 71. Robinson Crusoe. Adapted by G. 

Harlow. 32 pages. Price 5 cents. 
No. 72. Christmas In Other Lands. By 

Alice W. Cooley. Price 5 cenia. 



No. 73. The Heart of Christmas. A story 
in three parts. By Jennie M. 
Youngs. Price 5 cents. 

No. 74. Peril in Leafland and How the 
Trees Met It. By Jennie M. Youngs. 
Price 5 cents. 

No. 75. Little Daffydowndlly. By Na- 
thaniel Hawthorne. Price 5 cents. 

No. 81. A Pilgrim DriU. A motion song. 
Price 4 cents. 

No. 82. Nature and Tree Songs. By 

Jennie M. Youngs. Price 4 cents. 

FOURTH GRADE. 

Pacific History Stories. By Harr Wag- 
ner. Containing stories of Balboa, 
Magellan, Cabrillo, Drake, and other 
great explorers and discoverers of 
the Pacific Coast. Fully illustrated, 
half-tone and colored illustrations, 
illuminated board binding. Price 60 
cents. 

Nature Stories of the Northwest. By 
Herbert Bashford. Edited by Harr 
Wagner. Treating particularly of 
the animal life of the Northwest. 
Fully illustrated in color, line, and 
half-tone illustrations, illuminated 
board binding. Price 50 cents. 

No. 77. Story of Lafayette. Price 5 cts. 

No. 78. Story of Abraham Lincoln. Price 

5 cents. 

No. 79. Story of Washington. Price S 

cents. 
No. 80. Story of Longfellow* Price 6 

cents. 

FIFTH GRADE. 
Civics for Young Americans; or. First 

Lessons in Government. By William 

M. Glffin. Large 12mo. Cloth. With 

an illustration. Price 50 cents. 
The author has shown in a strikingly 
novel and interesting way, and in lang- 
uage intelligible to a ten-year-old boy, 
the necessity of government, the differ- 
ent forms of government, and the ad- 
vantages of our government over all 
others. 
No. 26. Selections from Hawthorne and 

Browning. Containing Tne Pygmies, 

The Minotaur, The Dragon's Teeth. 

and The Pied Piper of Hamelin. 14* 

pages. Cloth back. Price lo cents. 
No. 76. Thanatopsis; a Forest Hymn, 

and other Poems.. Bryant. Price 4 

cents. 
No. 61. Rip Van Winkle. Washington 

Irving. Text only. Price 5 cents. 
No. 43. The Pied Piper of Hamelin, and 

Other Poems. By Browning. Price 

6 cents. 



THE GREAT LAKES SERIES 

Lake Erie and the Story 
of Commodore Perry 

Edward Payson Morton, Ph. D. 




CHICAGO 
AINSWORTH & COMPANY 



The Great Lakes Series comprises, in the narrative of a con- 
tinuous journey : 

The Mohawk Valley and Lake Ontario. 

Lake Erie and the Story of Commodore Perry. 

Lake Huron and the Country of the Algonquins. , 

Lake Michigan and the French Explorers. 



Copyright, 1913, by 
AINSWORTH & COMPANY 



The publishers desire to express- ,thtir appreciation for the use of illus- 
trations to O. P. Barnes, the Cleveland Trust Company, the Pittsburg Post, 
the New York Central Lines, Supt. H. C. Dieterich of Ashtabula, Supt. H. B. 
Williams of Sandusky, Supt. Albert C. Eldredge of Lorain, and the Ohio 
State Archaeological and Historical Society. 

Mr. James A. Holden, State Historian of New York, has kindly read the 
proofs of some of the chapters. 



©CI.A346832 



vj 



•-S 



INTRODUCTION 



The author and the pubHshers of the Great Lakes 
Series feel that it is proper for them to set forth briefly 
the principles which have guided them in preparing these 
supplementary readers. 

Though we realize that our work needs to be inter- 
esting, we do not wish it to be merely entertaining. These 
readers are school books and are not intended as a recrea- 
tion for idle hours. Therefore we have been careful 
not to give too much space to stories of battles and 
skirmishes or to picturesque Indian legends. Because 
the reading lesson is too often but slightly related to the 
rest of the curriculum, we have tried to supplement the 
work in other studies by laying stress upon the more 
obvious relations between geography, history and com- 
merce. Exploration and trade in America have both 
romantic and practical aspects, and one or the other of 
these is sure to appeal to wideawake children. The 
scenes visited in these books offer abundant material of 
both kinds — the chief difficulty has been to select. 

In deciding upon the story form, as a convenient 
thread upon which to string what we wish to tell, we 
have tried to steer clear of two temptations. We do not 
intend that these stories shall be guide-books; therefore 
we have been sparing of mere dates and figures. Also, 
we do not wish to make James and Carrie a pair of pre- 
cocious little prigs, escorted by a pedant. Therefore we- 



have tried to make the characters talk like normal human 
beings, in language that is simple and colloquial, and at 
the same time free from slang and sins of grammar — 
such English, in short, as may reasonably be aspired to 
by those who wish to express themselves simply and 
clearly, without affectation either of bookish precision 
or of slovenly carelessness. 

Some knowledge of history has been assumed : for 
example, that the Revolutionary War was the struggle 
of the American colonies for independence from Great 
Britain. Nothing has been merely alluded to which 
would demand lengthy or involved explanation ; but it 
has been thought worth while to touch upon a few mat- 
ters which are not fully explained, in order to stimulate 
that legitimate curiosity which is a chief source of 
growth in knowledge. 

In accordance with this notion, the Questions, it will 
be observed, are hardly at all a catechism on the bare 
text. They are intended to send the pupils to their 
geographies, to the school dictionary, and to the common 
sources of information with which they should be be- 
ginning to grow familiar. Questions which can be an- 
swered by yes or no have been avoided ; they are all 
designed to require a reasonable amount of attention and 
thought about the matter in hand. The habit of observ- 
ing accurately and thinking clearly can hardly be begun 
too soon. 



THE 'GRIFFON' 



"What a funny 
little ship !" ex- 
claimed Carrie 
Woods. "Is that a 
lion crouching on 
the bowsprit?" 

"No," answered 
her uncle, "that's a 
griffon. J a m e s, 
don't you know 
what a griffon is?" 

"Some kind of 
a fabulous monster, 
isn't it, Uncle LaSalle's "Griffon." From an old print 

Jack? It looks like a lion with an eagle's wings." 

"Exactly. LaSalle called his ship the 'Grift'on,' be- 
cause grift'ons supported the cOat-of-arms of Count 
Frontenac." 

'Oh, I see. Just as the lion and the unicorn hold up 
the arms of England." 

"The other day," said Mrs. Woods, "I found a de- 
scription of the 'Griffon,' written by J. V. Campbell, a 
Michigan poet. Shall I read it to you ?" 




8 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

"Please do, Aunt Lucy," said both of the children 
together. 

"Very well; here it is: 

No better craft was ever seen 

Than brave LaSalle's stout brigantine; 

Out from the prow a Griffon springs, 

With scales of bronze and fiery wings, 

And the ship that earned so wide a fame 

Bore on its scroll the Griffon's name. 

For when the cunning Robes of Black 

Troubled the zealous Frontenac, 

And strove his venturous hands to keep 

From reaching out to the western deep, 

The wrath of the sturdy Norman rose 

At the jealous arts of his patron's foes, 

And the ship he built for his dangerous quest, 

He named from the valiant noble's crest, 

And vowed he would make the Griffon fly 

Over the crows in the western sky. 

A gilded eagle carved in wood 

On the crown of the quarterdeck castle stood. 

And from the staff astern unrolled, 

Floating aloft with its liHes of gold, 

The great white flag of France is spread, 

And the pennon decking the mainmast head 

Bears the chieftain's arms on a field of red." 

"That just exactly describes the picture, doesn't it, 
James?" said Carrie. 

"Aunt Lucy, was LaSalle a Norman?" asked James. 

"Yes, he was a descendant of the Northmen who 
ravaged the coast of Northern France about a thousand 
years ago, and finally settled there. Don't you remember 
that other Northmen are supposed to have ventured 
westward across the North Atlantic to Massachusetts, 
which they called Vinland, because they found wild 
grapes there? LaSalle, you see, had the same bold 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 9 

Spirit of adventure that made his ancestors wander so 
far and fight so well." 

Major Woods, his wife, and their nephew and 
niece had come down that morning from Buffalo where 
they had spent Sunday, and were standing on the bank 
near where Cayuga Creek flows into the Niagara River. 

"What's the name of this place. Uncle?" asked 
James ; 

'This is La Salle, and it was just about here that La 
Salle and his men built the 'Griffon.' Father Hennepin 
tells us, 'it was on the 22d of January, 1679, that we 
began to clear a place on the banks of the Niagara 
River for the purpose of constructing a vessel, and on 
the 30th the keel was ready to be laid.' The Indians, 
you remember, had a village here." 

"Oh, yes," said Carrie, "the village that the great 
serpent preyed upon was on Cayuga Creek, wasn't it?" 

"Yes. Well, the Indians didn't like to have LaSalle 
build his ship, and they hindered him all they could. 
They even tried to burn the ship, but he kept close 
jruard, and after several months of work, he and his 
men let it slide down the ways into the water, and then 
they rested more securely, for they anchored it out in 
the stream, and slung- their hammocks under its deck 
until they finished it. You know it was the first sailing 
vessel on the upper lakes, and it made a great sensation, 
especially when it got up into the Detroit River. 

"There is another interesting bit of history con- 
nected with this place. The 'Somers,' one of the smaller 
vessels of Commodore Perry's fleet, was built here at 



10 



LAKE ERIE AND THE 



LaSalle, and afterwards made over into a war vessel at 
Black Rock." 

*'How far above the Falls are we, Uncle?" asked 
James. 

"Between five and six miles, 'about two leagues,' 
Father Hennepin called it. Now, let's get on up to 




Shii'ping at Tonawanda 

Tonawanda, where the Erie Canal leaves the Niagara 
River and goes east." 



IN A SAWMILL 

At North Tonawanda, the children were Interested 
in the shipping, but were fascinated by the great rafts 
of logs and the l)ig sawmills. 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 11 

"Where do those rafts come from, Uncle Jack?" 
asked James. 

"Some of them come from away bacK in the upper 
peninsula of Michigan. The logs are brought by train 
to the water, and then made up into these rafts. You 
see that holes have been bored through the big ends of 
the logs so that they can be fastened together by chains. 
One tugboat can tow enough logs to make a good many 
shiploads of lumber." 

At one of the mills, James and Carrie watched the 
men as they jumped nimbly from one .log to another 
in the big mill pond, and with their long pike poles 
pushed and guided the logs to the foot of the runway 
where sharp spikes on an endless chain caught them 
and drew them up to the platform. 

"Oh," cried Carrie, "just see that man ! He steps 
on a floating log and then jumps on to another one be- 
fore he even gets the sole of his boot wet. Isn't it 
wonderful !" 

"Look at this log with the great big knot on it," said 
James. "I wonder how they are going to manage it? 
See, they are just rolling it on to the carriage. Now, 
watch it!" 

"Why," said Carrie, "those two saws just eat right 
through it as if it were pasteboard. How fast it goes ! 
The men on the carriage work as if they were mad, 
don't they?" and she looked on, entranced, as the car- 
riage shot back and forth, and the saws sliced off plank 
after plank, which slid along on rollers and disappeared 
in the distance. 



12 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

"Why do they have two saws, Uncle Jack?" asked 
James. 

"Don't you see that some of the logs are so thick 
that one saw would have to be very large indeed to cut 
clear through. By having two saws, one cutting from 
above and one from below, they can saw faster, and 
there is less damage done if one saw is injured. Now, 
let's see what becomes of the boards." As he spoke, he 
led them back into the mill, and continued: 

"See, this board came from the outer edge of the 
log and has a lot of bark on it at one end. It isn't 
straight, either. Now watch that man trim it. You see, 
he runs it between two small parallel saws and trims 
the edges, and then the next man saws off the ends 
nice and square, and the men beyond him sort the 
boards according to size." 

"What becomes of all the waste stuff, Uncle?" 
asked James. 

"Just follow it back and you'll see. Here, come this 
way," and he led them still farther back to another 
room wdiere boys were running the smaller pieces 
through gangs of saws which cut them into lath. 

"Our fathers used to make lath out of perfectly 
good lumber," said Major Woods, "but here, you see, 
the lath are a by-product, for they are made out of 
what would otherwise be not only useless but in the 
way. There is a double ecgnomy, for the mill sells 
something which used to be an expense, because it had 
to pay to have it removed. Now, if we go down stairs 
we'll see them feeding the fire under the boilers with 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 13 

the sawdust and refuse. It's almost as if they made 
the logs furnish the power that saws them into lumber." 

BLACK ROCK 

They made their way back to the automobile, and 
when they neared Black Rock, Major Woods said to 
them : 

"Black Rock is now a part of the city of Buffalo, 
but a hundred years ago it was a separate village and 
seemed more likely than Buffalo to grow into a city, 
for it had a ready-made harbor where Scajaquada- 
Creek flows into the narrow channel of the Niagara 
River behind Squaw Island. When the War of 1812 
broke out, the only points at which British and Ameri- 
can territory really came close together were along the 
Detroit River and here along the Niagara. And since 
the Niagara frontier was nearer the settled parts of 
both countries, there was more fighting in this neighbor- 
hood than anywhere else. 

"Naturally, then, the United States established a 
navy-yard at Black Rock, and protected it by a string 
of eight forts between the Scajaquada and Buffalo 
Creek, each fort with its earthworks, battery, and block- 
house. There the government took half a dozen mer- 
chant vessels, mounted guns on them, and made them 
over into war vessels. 

"One of those vessels was captured from the British 
by a very daring raid. On October 8th, 1812, the 
British brought to Fort Erie, which is just across from 
Buffalo, two vessels, the 'Caledonia' and the 'Detroit.' 



14 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

The 'Detroit' they had captured from us when Hull 
surrendered at Detroit. That very night, about one 
o'clock, Lieutenant Jesse Elliott with two boatloads of 
men captured both vessels right under the guns of Fort 
Erie. The wind was too light for them to escape up 
the lake, so they ran on dow^n the river. The 'Detroit' 
went aground opposite Squaw Island, and the Americans 
burned her. But the 'Caledonia' they brought into 
Black Rock, and she afterw^ards belonged to Commo- 
dore Perry's squadron. 

THE 'WALK-IN-THE-IVATER' 

**The crisis of the rivalry between Black Rock and 
Buffalo," continued the Major, "came in 1818. In that 
year a company of Albany and New York City men 
built at Black Rock the first steamboat on the upper 
lakes. She was launched on May 28th, and w^as named 
the 'Walk-in-the-Water.' " 

"What a funny name," said Carrie. "Where did 
she get it?" 

"There is a story that when Robert Fulton's 'Cler- 
mont' made her first trip up the Hudson, in August, 
1807, an Indian was among the watchers on the bank. 
After observing for some time the way in which the 
paddles struck the water, he lost his customary stoicism 
and cried out: 'He walk in the water! He walk in the 
water! Oh, see! He walk in the water!' Some people 
have thought that the name came from that exclamation, 
but, as a matter of fact, there was a Wyandotte Indian 
chief named Walk-in-the- Water, who took part in the 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 



15 



War of 1812, and it is' just as likely that this steamer 
was named for him. However it came by its name, it 
was an appropriate one. 

''The 'Walk-in-the-Water' was a funny-looking 
craft. She was a side-wheeler and had two masts. But 




The "Walk-in-the-Water' 



she had no pilothouse, and her smokestack consisted 
merely of six lengths of stove-pipe. You can see what 
she looked like from this old picture of her. 

''Although launched in May, the 'Walk-in-the- 
Water' did not start on her first trip until late in Au- 
gust. She was commanded by Captain Job Fish, who 
had been Fulton's engineer. Unfortunately when she 
was ready to start up the river, the wind was dead 
ahead, and the wind and current together were too 



16 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

much for her, even with all sails spread and steam up. 
So they were forced to get sixteen yoke of oxen to tow 
her up the river, and some witty native at once dubbed 
the oxen 'the horn-breeze.' 

"That first trip was not a very fast one. The 'Walk- 
in the Water' left Buffalo at half past one in the after- 
noon, stopped over night at Dunkirk, and did not reach 
Cleveland until eleven o'clock on the morning of the 
third day. That is, it took her forty-five and a half 
hours to make a trip which the steamers make now in 
about eight hours." 

"What made her so slow, Uncle Jack?" asked 
James. 

"Well, for one thing, she could make only ten miles 
an hour at her best. But the chief trouble was with 
the landings. Except at Black Rock and Detroit, there 
were no piers, and passengers, freight, and fuel had to 
be transported in rowboats or flatboats. For fuel she 
burned finely split pine, hemlock, or basswood, which 
takes up a good deal of room, and is hard to handle 
quickly, so that much time was wasted in taking on fuel. 

"Steamboats had no whistles in those days, or for a 
quarter of a century afterwards. So the 'Walk-in-the- 
Water' carried a cannon, which was fired off a mile or 
so before she reached a stopping-place. 

"The first stop after leaving Black Rock was natur- 
ally at the mouth of Buffalo Creek, and the first year 
the *Walk-in-the-Water' always took on passengers 
there. And of course, when she made her first trip in 
1819, a boatload of passengers was waiting off Buffalo 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 17 

Creek, expecting to be taken aboard as usual. But the 
*Walk-in-the-Water' didn't even slo-w down. As she 
passed, however, the captain stepped to the rail, politely 
took off his cap, and announced : 'Gentlemen, you must 
distinctly understand that the port from which we sail 
is Black Rock!' So, after that, the people of Buffalo 
went down to Black Rock to take the boat. 

A LUCKY WRECK 

''In 1821, however, there was a change. Late in the 
afternoon of October 31st, the 'Walk-in-the-Water' left 
Black Rock for Detroit. The wind and the current were 
both so strong that it was half past seven before the 
boat got out of the Niagara River and into the lake. 
Here the wind was still stronger and the waves were 
high. At eight o'clock the boat rolled and pitched so 
that the heavy table in the dining-saloon broke from 
its fastenings, and pinned some of the passengers to the 
wall. At nine o'clock, the captain admitted that the 
boat had made practically no progress in the last hour, 
although the engines w^ere working beautifully. At last, 
afraid to try to turn around in the heavy sea, the cap- 
tain had two anchors dropped. The anchors both held, 
but the boat pitched and tossed more violently than be- 
fore, and down in the cabin there was the wildest con- 
fusion. Almost everything breakable was smashed, and 
the passengers thought twenty times that the ship was 
going to the bottom. 

"At three o'clock in the morning the captain came 
down into the cabin and announced that the anchors 



18 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

had begun to drag and the boat was slowly working 
toward the beach. About half past four she was almost 
in the breakers, and the captain, after having mattresses 
put on the floor and against the sides of the cabin to 
protect the passengers, ordered the cables cut. In a few 
seconds there was a shock that piled everybody in a 
heap against the mattresses — and then everything was 
quiet. The 'Walk-in-the-Water' had gone on the beach 
within a hundred rods of the Buffalo lighthouse, and so 
near the shore that the engineer waded the rest of the 
way and hurried through the woods to Buffalo to tell 
the people that the passengers would be there for break- 
fast. With a line and a small boat all the passengers 
and the crew got ashore uninjured, except for a steward 
and one passenger who had been cut by broken glass. 
They even got all the cargo ashore during the day, but 
the hull was a complete wreck." 

*'My ! they were lucky, weren't they ?" interrupted 
James. "J^ist think of being wrecked where all you 
had to do was, to wade ashore and order breakfast !" 

THE FIRST HARBOR IMPROVEMENT 

"Yes, they were very fortunate," resumed Major 
Woods. ''As it turned out, the wreck of the 'Walk-in- 
the- Water' was a very important event 'in the history 
of Buffalo. The company at once planned to build an- 
other boat, but as the machinery and the boiler were at 
Buffalo, it would be easier to build there than at Black 
Rock. One difficulty, however, made them hesitate. 
The mouth of Buffalo Creek was almost stopped up by 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 19 

a sandbar. The citizens of Buffalo assured the com- 
pany that the spring floods would scour away the bar, 
but the owners woulcl not consent to build until the 
citizens gave bond to forfeit a hundred dollars for every 
day that low water delayed the boat after she was ready 
to start. 

''With that assurance, the company built a new boat, 
which it called the 'Superior.' It was launched in the 
middle of April, 1822, but by that time it was evident 
that the water on the bar would not be deep enough 
to float the steamer. The citizens were under bond, 
however, so they got together,' and every able-bodied 
man helped with shovel or scraper to dig out a channel 
across the bar — and the 'Superior' sailed proudly out of 
Buffalo Creek on time. That effort to save a forfeit was 
the first work done on the upper lakes to improve a 
harbor, and it seemed to open people's eyes to what could 
be done, and what must be done to create trade and to 
keep it. When we get up to Buffalo harbor, I'll show 
you a picture of Buffalo in 1813, and then you can see 
how much has been done to make the port roomy and 
safe." 

"How long was the 'Superior' the only steamer on 
Lake Erie, Uncle Jack?" asked James. 

"For four years, that is, until the spring of 1826. 
Twenty-five years later, steamers made the run from 
Buffalo to Chicago in three and a half days — a half day 
less than it took the 'Walk-in-the- Water' to go from 
Buffalo to Detroit." 



20 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

"What was the first steamer on Lake Huron, Uncle ?" 
asked Carrie. 

"The 'Walk-in-the- Water.' She made one excursion 
from Detroit around to Green Bay, and therefore was 
the first steamer on either Lake Huron or Lake Michigan. 

"Well, well, I believe I'm hungry. We'll have the 
chauffeur take us up into the park here, and we'll eat 
our lunch on the banks of the Scajaquada." 

BUFFALO 

"How did Buffalo get its name?" asked Carrie, after 
Mrs. Woods had unpacked a generous-sized tea-basket, 
and they had all been served. 

"Buffalo took its name from Buffalo Creek," an- 
swered Major Woods, "but when and how the creek 
was named is uncertain. As early as 1718 it was re- 
ported that 'buffalos abound on the south but not on the 
north shore of Lake Erie,' and Buffalo Creek was so 
named by 1764 or even earlier. Probably LaSalle, with 
Tonty and Father Hennepin, were the first white men 
to see the place, but they have left no record. That 
was in 1679; in 1687, Baron La Hontan picked out the 
site of Buffalo as a good location for a fort, but nothing 
came of it. 

"The first fort, however, was built, not at Buffalo, 
but across the river at Fort Erie. Colonel Bradstreet, 
who was then on an expedition against the Indians, 
built it in the summer of 1764 as a depot for provisions. 
The present Fort Erie was begun by the British in 1791. 
The first mention of a settlement on the site of Buffalo 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 21 

was in 1792, when Cornelius Winney had a trading post 
there. 

''James, why do you suppose Winney built his trad- 
ing post at Buffalo instead of at Fort Erie?" 

*'I don't know," answered James. "Oh, yes, I see 
now. At that time Fort Erie was in Canada and Buft'alo 
was in the United States, so that Winney would want 
to be on the side nearest New York." 

"Yes, Buffalo was not only the end of the old Iroquois 
trail that branched off from Utica, but it was at a point 
which people must pass if they came by way of Oswego 
and Lake Ontario. So, you see, that more than a hun- 
dred years ago the location of Buffalo was determined 
by already existing routes of trade and travel. 

"Now, we seem to be all through eating. Suppose 
v/e go down to the harbor, and we'll go over to Fort 
Euie, and perhaps on to Port Colborne. Do you know 
where Port Colborne is, Carrie?" 

"Yes, Uncle, that's the entrance to the Welland 
Canal." 

"Good girl ! But how do you come to know so much 
about Canada?" 

"Oh, there was a girl from Toronto in my room at 
school last winter, and she and I used to have great 
arguments about the United States and Canada. I just 
couldn't help learning some things." 

They drove through Humboldt Park and down Gene- 
see Street, and when they were well down town turned 
aside through Lafayette Square to the corner of Pearl 



22 



LAKE ERIE AND THE 



and Swan Streets. There Mrs. Woods called their at- 
tention to a tablet in the wall of a building. 

"That," she said, 
''marks the site of 
the first school build- 
ing in Buffalo. Did 
you know that Buf- 
falo now has more 
kindergartens than 
any other city?" 

'Ts that so, 

Lucy ?" said the 

Major. "But of 

course I might have 

expected you to 

know all about 

everything of that 

sort. How many 

School Management 

Committees are you 

i^AFAYETTE SQUARE q^i, auyway ?" 

"You're not insinuating that I neglect you, are you?" 

"Not at all, my dear. I'm really proud of you, as 

you know very well. Now, driver, take us down to the 

ferry, and we'll go over to Fort Erie." 

A GRAIN ELEJATOR 

As they made their way slowly through the crowded 
streets. Major Woods showed them a view of the port 
of Buffalo in 1813. 




STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 



23 



"Well," said Carrie, ''this doesn't look much like the 
Buffalo we are riding through now, does it?" 

"Not very much," answered Major Woods. "But 
Buffalo is like most other cities in this : large cities have 




The Port of Buffalo in 1813 

grown, not by mere natural increase in population, but 
in proportion as their citizens have been alive to their 
advantages. The citizens of Buffalo showed that spirit 
when they dug a channel across the bar at the mouth 
of .Buffalo Creek. In a way, they were driven to it by 
necessity, which is, as the old proverb says very truly, 
'the mother of invention.' There was another illus- 
tration of that in 1842. The opening of the Erie Canal 
in 1825 was followed in just a few years by the digging 
of the Welland Canal, which threatened to divert com- 
merce from Buffalo and New York to Lake Ontario and 



24 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

the St. Lawrence. Ships and steamers would come to Buf- 
falo with their great cargoes of wheat and corn, which 
had to be transferred to canal barges. Moving the grain 
from lake vessels to canal boats by hand was slow, and 
there were not always enough empty canal boats to hold 
a cargo. Now,- delays of that sort were expensive, be- 
cause the lakes are ice-bound part of the year, and a 
ship which could make a dozen round trips between 
Chicago and Buffalo in a season, could easily be delayed 
in port long enough to lose one or two trips. There 
was a chance, too, that canal boats would be kept empty 
at Buffalo waiting for a ship to come in. 

*'So, in 1842, Joseph Dart built at the mouth of 
Buffalo Creek the first grain elevator. It had two ad- 
vantages. In the first place, it furnished storage for 
55,000 bushels of grain, so that a ship could be emptied 
into it and start at once on its return trip, and barges 
could be loaded from it after the ship was gone. But 
there wouldn't have been much advantage in that, un- 
less there was also some device for handling the grain 
more rapidly, since it had to be moved twice, first into 
the elevator, and then into the barges. But Dart rigged 
up in the side of the elevator a long, movable arm, in 
which there was a belt with scoops or 'buckets' fas- 
tened to it. When this arm was let down into the hold 
of a ship, and the belt was started, the buckets would 
carry the grain up into the elevator, and as each bucket 
came to the top it would empty its load into a chute 
through which it dropped into the bins. This first ele- 
vator could raise a thousand bushels of grain an hour. 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 25 

Of course it was easy to get the grain out of the elevator 
into the barges, for a spout from the bottom of the bins 
would let the grain out." 

"A thousand bushels an hour," said James. "Is that 
a great deal, Uncle?" 

''Well, a farm wagon with high sides will hold about 
sixty bushels of shelled corn. So, you see, the elevator 
handled nearly seventeen wagonloads in an hour. It 
would take a good many men to move grain that fast 
with shovels. Of course, that first elevator was pretty 
small compared with some of the later ones, which hold 
from one to two million bushels, and can raise twenty 
thousand or more bushels an hour. 

''Dart's invention made the handling of grain both 
quick and easy, and therefore cheap. But it was found, 
too, that this very necessity of moving the grain from 
one vessel to another was a. benefit to the grain, for it 
let the air through it and kept it in better condition. 

FORT ERIE 

"Well, here we are at the ferry. I'm afraid we'll 
not have time to go on to Port Colborne, but from the 
other side of the river we can see something of Buffalo 
harbor." 

When they reached Fort Erie, James looked across 
to Buffalo, and said: 

"Uncle Jack, I should think that the British could 
almost have bombarded Buffalo from here." 

"They could, if they had a fort here now, with 
modern guns. Ev^n in 1812, when they tried to keep 



26 LAKE ERIE AND THE ' 

Lieutenant Elliott from running off with the 'Caledonia' 
and the 'Detroit,' they wounded some of the people who 
had gathered on the Buffalo shore to watch. The ex- 
istence of Fort Erie was one thing against establishing 
a navy-yard at Black Rock. Lieutenant Elliott, who had 
been sent to find a suitable place on Lake Erie, reported 
that 'those harbors that have shelters have not sufficient 
water, and those with water cannot be defended from 
the enemy and the violence of the weather.' Even when 
they finished refitting the vessels at Black Rock, they 
were puzzled how to get them safely into the lake, for 
the current runs four miles an hour, and as soon as the 
vessels got out from behind Squaw Island they were 
within point-blank range of the British guns. 

"Fortunately, the British withdrew for a time from 
Fort Erie about the end of May, 1813, and Commodore 
Perry himself at once took charge of getting the vessels 
out of the river. He had a hard time, too, for it took 
nearly two weeks, and he had to use both oxen and 
soldiers to pull the boats up against the current. If Fort 
Erie had been occupied then, he could hardly have suc- 
ceeded. 

"When he did get them into the lake. Commodore 
Barclay with a British fleet was cruising up and down 
between Erie and the Niagara River in order to inter- 
cept them. But a fog enabled Perry's small vessels to 
creep along near the shore unnoticed, so they reached 
Erie safely. When we get to Erie tomorrow, we'll see 
what troubles Perry had with a harbor which was safe 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 



27 



enough from attack, but which had a sandbar across 
the entrance." 

''How does Fort Erie happen to be in ruins, Uncle?" 
asked Carrie. 

"The Americans captured it in July. 1814, and later, 
during an attack, blew up a large part of it. And after 




Leaving Buffalo Harbor 

the war was over, the English made no attempt to re- 
build it. 

"Now, if you have looked around enough, we'll go 
back. After dmner I have some letters to write, and 
we must make a fairly early start in the morning." 



NOTES AND QUESTIONS 



For a more extended account of the historical matters touched 
on in this chapter, see "The Historical Writings of the late 
Orsamus H. Marshall," Albany, N. Y., 1887. 

Robert Cavelier (kaverya), Sieur de la Salle (sal), who was 
the first to explore the Mississippi, reached its mouth in April, 
1682. 

For the story of the "great serpent," see "The Mohawk 
Valley and Lake Ontario." 

Trace on a map the route of a log raft from Upper Michigan 
to Ton a wan'da. 

Trace the course of the Welland Canal. What bodies of 
water does it connect? 

Tell in your own words the story of the "Walk-in-the- Water." 

Some other proper names in this chapter are pronounced as 
follows : 

Hen'nepin, Fron'tenac, Ton ty, 

Scajaquada (ska ja'kwa da), Iroquois (ir'okwoy). 

La Hon'tan, Wy'an dotte (-dot). 

Spell, pronounce, and explain the following words: 



unicorn 

crouching 

bowsprit 

squadron 

brigantine 

zealous 

venturous" 

league 

disappeared 

entranced 

refuse 

determined 



prow 

territory 

surrendered 

unicorn 

rivalry 

launch 

valiant 

fascinated 

by-product 

dubbed 

hesitate 

kindergarten 



insinuatmg 

transferred 

fabulous 

crisis 

establishing 

sufficient 

customary 

stoicism 

appropriate 

mattresses 

intercept 

disregarded 



A STIFF BREEZE 




The next morning 
the children were up 
bright and early, and 
a brisk half hour's 
walk made them do 
full justice to their 
breakfast. At the table 
they asked their uncle 
what the program for 
the day was. 

"In the first place," 
he answered, "we'll 
hurry down to the 
station and catch a 

Lake Shore train to Westfield, for then we'll be able to 
go to Lake Chautauqua for lunch. In the afternoon, 
we'll come back through Westfield to Barcelona, a very 
pretty harbor, and one of the oldest on the lake. Then 
we will return to Westfield and catch a train to Erie. 
We'll have time to see something of Erie before dark, 
and tomorrow night we'll be in Cleveland. How does 
that strike you?" 

"That's fine, Uncle," said James. "The Mercer boys 
were at Chautauqua last summer, and they couldn't talk 
about anything else when they came back." 



30 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

"I like it too, Uncle Jack," added Carrie, *'for Mary 
Stevenson is going to be there in August, and it'll be 
lots of fun to tell her I've seen it." 

''Well, I think you'd like Chautauqua, even if none 
of your friends had ever been there. Now, I'll go pay 
our bill and order a taxi." 

As they left Lafayette Square on their way to the 
station, and turned into Main Street, the wind made 
them all reach wildly for their hats. 

"It must be rough sailing on Erie today," said Major 
Woods. "You see. Main Street runs just right to catch 
all the wind that comes down the lake ; it's a good deal 
like the spout of a funnel. Even Chicago would have 
hard work to beat that." 

"Uncle Jack," asked Carrie, "do you think we'll need 
a 'horn-breeze' to get us to the station?" 

"Not unless our motor goes dead. The chauffeur 
will find it worth while to keep what the sailors call 
'steerage way,' though. This is the kind of wind that 
made so much trouble for the men who went out in 
1796 to survey the Western Reserve. One of them told 
in his diary of doing well with his bateau the first day 
out from Buffalo, for he made twenty-eight miles. The 
next day, the wind was fair when he started, but he 
hadn't gone a mile before it changed suddenly. So he 
had to put back to the mouth of the little creek where 
he camped, and stayed there not only the rest of that 
day, but for three or four days afterward." 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 31 

They were soon comfortably settled on a Lake Shore 
express, and before long were flying across the open 
country. After a. while James asked: 

''Uncle Jack, didn't you say this was the Lake Shore 
road ?" 

"Yes." 

"Well, then, why doesn't it go along the shore?" 

"If you will watth for a few minutes, you'll see. 
For one thing, the shore line is quite irregular, and the 
railroad can go straighter by running inland a little. In 
the next place, a road running parallel to the lake has 
to cross every stream that flows into it, and if the track 
ran too near the shore, it would have to build longer 
bridges, and do more filling than it does farther from 
the lake. You see, the actual shore line is more broken 
than the country farther back, because the wind and the 
water and the frost wear away the edge of the plateau." 

"Yes, I see that now. But somehow I thought we 
were going to go right along the shore." 

ON LAKE CHAUTAUQUA 

At Westfield they found the trolley w^aiting to take 
them to Chautauqua. As the road wound steadily up- 
ward. Major Woods said: 

"Travelers along here nowadays have a good deal 
easier time than the French had in the 18th century. 
Celoron de Bienville came up through here in 1749, but 
he had to take the old Indian portage which began at 
Barcelona, just a few rods up Chautauqua Creek from 
Lake Erie. He and his men had to carry canoes and 



32 



LAKE ERIE AND THE 



baggage over nine miles of rather difficult trail before 
they reached Lake Chautauqua. The end of the portage 
was just about where we'll take the steamer. 




A Bit op Assembly Grounds, Lake Chautauqua 



"Celoron cut out the trail roughly, for the French ex- 
pected to use this route on their way to the Ohio River, 
but when Marin was sent three years later to cut it out 
again, he was so disgusted with it that he went on to 
Erie, then called Presqu' Isle, and went inland from 
there." 

At the boat landing they boarded the steamer and 
went the whole length of the lake, then back to the As- 
sembly Grounds for a stroll before lunch. Later, as 
they sat looking out upon the lake and at the people, 
Major Woods said: 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 33 

"In some ways this is one of our most peculiarly 
American institutions — this combination of summer va- 
cation with lectures and teaching. This particular one 
was started about forty years ago, and its example has 
been followed in hundreds of other places all over the 
country. Of course this is only one side of the tendency 
to take a vacation away from home, to get a change of 
scene and of occupation, if only for a few days. 

"You saw something of it on Lake Champlain and 
Lake George, and you'll see still more of it along the 
Great Lakes. In fact, the summer tourist has become a 
really important item in the trade and commerce of the 
whole great lake region. Hundreds of thousands of 
people, who cannot live along the lakes, come to their 
shores for at least a part of the summer. In the old 
days, the French and English traders established posts 
at Mackinac, at Detroit, and at other places, and bar- 
tered with the Indians, giving them flour and salt and 
powder and shot and liquor and trinkets for their skins 
and furs. Now, the traders gather as before, but instead 
of dealing with the red man, they exchange trinkets and 
postcards for the money of the tourist, who must carry 
home with him something to remind himself and his 
friends that he has really been away from home. And 
instead of seeing at Mackinac, for example, fleets of 
bark canoes bringing Indians to trade with the paleface, 
you will find the waterways crowded with great steamers 
built especially to carry restless Americans from one 
beautiful scene to another. But I like it, I like it!" 

"Why do you like it so much, Uncle?" asked Carrie. 



34 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

"Because it is a good thing for people to get away 
from their business for a Httle while. It is good for 
them to have some interests outside of their business. 
And it is good for people of one region to know and 
see something of the people of another region. It means 
some exchange of ideas, and I think it makes better 
Americans of all of us — better in two ways. The more 
we see of our country, its size, its beauties, its variety of 
resources, the more certain we are to be proud of it, and 
love of country is a fine thing, for it plays a great and 
useful part in the working out of civilization." 

The Major paused, and looked about him. Presently 
James said: 

"But that's only one way in which it makes us better 
Americans, Uncle Jack." 

"The second way," continued the Major, "helps the 
first one. The more w^e see and understand of the way 
other people live and think, the more intelligently and 
justly we ought to be able to look at national questions. 
You see, if we are to be wase patriots, our love of our 
country ought to be based on knowledge of w^hat things 
will be good for us, and what things will be harmful. 

"Well, well, I don't need to be giving a lecture, in 
this place of all places. Let's get something to eat, and 
then catch the steamer." 

THE TERRIBLE ERIES 

After they had eaten, and the steamer had taken 
them back to the head of the lake, it did not take them 
long to drop down the slope to Barcelona, and on the 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 



35 



way they caught many ghmpses of Lake Erie spread 
out before them, the white caps ghnting in the sunshine. 
Near the harbor they saw a fisherman mending his nets 
which were stretched to dry on great reels. So they 




Silvery Setnes. Barcelona Harbor 



stopped to chat with him for a few minutes, and then 
went on to a quiet spot, where they sat upon a dry rock 
and gazed out over the lake. Presently Carrie asked: 
"How did Lake Erie get its name. Uncle Jack?" 
''From a tribe of Indians who used to live along the 
eastern end of it. At last, apparently about the middle 
of the 17th century, the Eries and the Five Nations had 
a great struggle in which the Iroquois won, and drove 
the Eries far to the west. We have an account of that 



36 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

struggle given in 1845 by Blacksnake, a Seneca chief, to 
a white man." 

"Oh, please tell us about it. Uncle," said Jarties. 

*'It's too long to give in full, but the gist of it is like 
this : Long ago the Eries were the most powerful and 
warlike of all the Indian tribes, and their chief place 
was at Tu-shu-way, where Buffalo now is. 

**When they first heard of the confederation of the 
Five Nations (which was soon after Cartier first came 
up the St. Lawrence), they were sure it could not mean 
any good to them. So, in order to find out more about 
the strength of their natural enemies, they sent to the 
Senecas, their nearest neighbors, a friendly challenge to 
play a game of ball. Each tribe was to send a hundred 
young men, and they were to play for a wager worthy 
of the great nations who were to take part. The Senecas 
held a council, and after long discussion, declined the 
challenge. The next year the Eries sent another chal- 
lenge, which was also declined. But when the Eries 
challenged the Senecas a third time, the younger war- 
riors persuaded the old men to let them accept. 

'There was much difficulty in selecting the two 
teams, for each nation had many worthy champions. 
But, at last, everything was settled, and the Senecas 
sent word they were coming. Each contestant carried 
a bat, which was a hickory stick about five feet long, 
bent over at the end, with a thong netting woven into 
the bow." 

''Why/' interrupted James, "that is like a lacrosse 
stick." 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 37 

"Yes, that's what it was. Well, after much feasts 
ing, and after arranging their wagers of belts of wam- 
pum, and bands of silver, and beautifully ornamented 
moccasins, they played their game, and although the 
Eries played with great skill and desperation, the 
Senecas won. 

"After collecting their wagers, the Senecas prepared 
to start home, but the Eries challenged them to a foot- 
race between ten men of each tribe. The Senecas won 
the footrace, too, but the Eries, not satisfied, proposed 
that ten men of each tribe should wrestle, and that the 
victor of each match should brain his opponent with a 
tomahawk, and carry away his scalp as a trophy. The 
Senecas did not much like this — at least Blacksnake said 
that was the way the story was told to him — ^but they 
finally accepted, though they made up their minds not 
to kill their rivals. When the champions had been 
chosen, a Seneca strode into the ring, and quickly threw 
the Erie who opposed him, but stepped back and refused 
to kill him. Instantly the chief of the Eries darted for- 
ward, seized the tomahawk and killed his vanquished 
warrior. The same thing happened again, and after the 
Erie chief had killed three of his tribe in this way, the 
chief of the Senecas gave a signal, and the Senecas dis- 
appeared into the forest and made their way home. 

"The Eries, seeing what kind of warriors they had 
to contend with, and fearing the results of a confedera- 
tion, decided to fall upon the Senecas before their allies 
could help them. Although the Eries laid their plans 
carefully, there was among them a Seneca woman who 



38 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

had been taken prisoner long before and had married an 
Erie. She was then a childless widow, and her heart 
was really with the Senecas. So she managed to steal 
away at nightfall, and by morning reached Lake On- 
tario. Taking a canoe, she made her way to Oswego, 
and told the chief of the Senecas what she knew. He 
at once sent runners to all the tribes, and when the coun- 
cil met at Onondaga Hollow, he reported, Indian fashion, 
that a beautiful bird had appeared to him in a vision 
and had told him that a great war party of the Eries 
was coming to destroy them, and that their only hope 
was to attack the Eries first. 

"This news filled the Five Nations with rage and 
indignation. They hastily organized a body of five thou- 
sand warriors, with a reserve of one thousand young 
men who had never been in battle. Then they set out 
to meet the Eries. The two armies came together be- 
tween the foot of Canandaigua Lake and the Genesee 
River, and the battle began as soon as they caught sight 
of each other. The Eries fought like madmen, but they 
could not conquer the Iroquois. Seven times the Iro- 
quois drove the Eries back across the stream, and seven 
times the Eries fought their way over again. The eighth 
time, however, the thousand young warriors, who had 
been kept out of sight, rushed upon the tired Eries, and 
won the battle. 

"Hundreds of the Eries, disdaining flight, were 
struck down by the war-clubs of the Senecas, and only 
a few escaped to carry to the women and children and 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY ,39 

old men of the tribe the sad news of their disaster. The 
Senecas pursued them relentlessly, and, so Blacksnake 
told the. tale, did not return for five months. 

"Many years afterwards, a powerful war-party of 
the descendants of these unhappy Eries came from their 
camping-grounds beyond the Mississippi, and attacked 
the Senecas at Tu-shu-way, where they had settled. The 
Senecas met them in another great battle and slew every 
one of the Eries. Not a single man escaped. And that 
was the end of the terrible Eries." 

''My! they were real fighters, weren't they!" said 
James. 

'T think those Eries were foolish," said Carrie. "If 
they had stayed at home, maybe the Five Nations would 
have let them alone." 

*T don't know about that," said Major Woods, *'for 
the Iroquois were feared by the other Indians as far 
west as the Mississippi. And you must remember that 
the story as we have it comes from the Senecas and not 
from the Eries." 

"Well," said Mrs. Woods, "the Eries were certainly 
brave, and they are not forgotten. A poet — I don't know 
who he was — has put it very well, I think: 

Ye say they all have passed away, 
That noble race and brave, 
That their light canoes have vanished 
From off the crested wave; 
That mid the forest where they roamed, 
There rings no hunter's shout, 
But their name is on our waters. 
And ye may not wash it out." 



40 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

INDIAN RECORDS 

"How did Chief Blacksnake know so much about 
it?" asked James. 

"Although the Indians have no written history, such 
as the palefaces have, they passed on the stories of their 
chief events' from father to son very carefully. Some 
persons in each generation committed to memory the 
things taught them by their elders." 

"But how could they remember it all?" asked James. 

"Oh, it wasn't so very hard. In the first place, the 
stories were told over and over again, in the councils 
and around the campfire, until many people knew them 
by heart. Carrie, didn't your mother teach you the 
story of the little girl and the three bears, 'the great 
big bear, and the middle-sized bear, and the tiny wee 
bear?'" 

"Yes, Uncle, but that isn't an Indian story, is if?" 

"No, not at all. But suppose I were to try to tell 
you that story, and should not tell it just as your mother 
taught it to you; wouldn't you correct me right off,' and 
couldn't you tell it exactly as you learned it?" 

"Yes, I suppose I could." 

"Now, where do you think your mother got the 
story ?" 

"From her mother?" 

"Yes, and your grandmother learned it from her 
mother. And probably that story has been told in your 
family in exactly the same way for generations. Now, 
many Indian stories and bits of history have been 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 41 

handed down in just that way. But the Indians did 
have two ways of keeping the record of events in their 
right order. In some tribes, the old men kept a bundle 
of sticks, on which were various marks. They would 
teach their sons that, for instance, the black circle on 
the square white pine stick meant that one summer a 
terrible sickness came upon the tribe in their camp on 
the Ohio. Then perhaps the next mark on that stick 
would be a red cross, and the old man would teach that, 
in the second summer after the sickness, his tribe fought 
with another tribe at a certain portage, and won the 
battle after so many hours. That is, you see, each mark 
stood for a whole story, and the order of the marks re- 
corded the order of the events." 

"What was the other way, Uncle Jack?" asked 
Carrie. 

"Oh, yes. Some tribes, instead of sticks, kept strings, 
or thongs, with shells and pebbles and bear teeth, and 
so on, tied on or strung on. The trouble with both these 
methods was that only a few people in a tribe knew the 
meaning of the marks, and could keep the stories in their 
right order." 

Presently James and Carrie went down to the water's 
edge to skip stones. It was great fun to make the 
stones jump over the waves, and to count how many 
times they skipped before they sank. All at once Carrie 
cried: 

"Oh, what a long boat ! Uncle Jack, what kind of a 
boat is that?" 



42 



LAKE ERIE AND THE 



Major Woods got out his field glasses, and after 
taking a look said : 

"That must be a grain boat bound for Buffalo. You 
if ' - 5 can see that it is just a 

I long box with a cabin 

at the bow, and the 
^ f! engines at the stern." 

..I "How long is it, 

1^ Uncle?" asked James. 

P "Between five and six 

}J hundred feet, I should 

Id I say. That one boat 
li w probably holds enough 
il h3 grain to fill Joseph 
''I o Dart's elevator eight or 
P| o nine times. We'll see 
|| more boats like that 
1^1 (^ when we get to Ashta- 
^:| < bula and Lorain." 
ly Then as he looked at 

|i his watch he exclaimed: 

11 "Here, we'll have to 

|| hurry if we want to get 

to Erie much before din- 
ner-time." 

So they hastened 
back to the trolley and 
were soon on their way to Erie. At Ei-ie, it did not take 
them long to get settled, and then they went down to get 
a glimpse of the harbor before dinner. 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 43 

PRESQU' ISLE 

''What did you say the French called Erie, Uncle?" 
asked James. 

" 'Presqu' Isle/ which means 'almost an island. 
What does the geography call such places, James?" 

■''Almost an island?' Oh, yes, a peninsula." 

"Right, for peninsula is made up of two words, just 
as the French is, which mean 'almost an island.' Now, 
can you tell why Erie should be called Presqu' Isle?" 

'*It ought to be because it's on a peninsula, but it isn't, 
is it? The shore looks straight enough here." 

"Oh, I see. Uncle Jack," said Carrie. "The bay is 
almost shut in by a peninsula." 

"Yes, that is it. If you will look at the map tonight 
you will see that the bay is almost enclosed by a strip 
of land more than five miles long. You can see from 
here that it is low, and the map will show you that it is 
not very wide. The entrance to the bay is over at the 
east end, sheltered from the prevailing winds, so that 
vessels in the harbor are protected from storms. In 
fact, Erie is the first good natural harbor on the south 
shore of the lake west of Black Rock." 

"But, Uncle," said James, "there's a boat going out 
at the west end." 

"Yes," answered the Major, "the government dug a 
passage there so that boats bound to or from the west 
need not go clear around to the east end. But it must 
be nearly dinner-time now. This evening, we'll find an 
atlas and have a combined geography and history 
lesson." 



44 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

A CHAIN OF FORTS 

After dinner they went up to their sitting-room, 
and Major Woods said: 

"Now, James, if you'll get the atlas, we'll find out 
how much you know about geography. Find the map 
of Pennsylvania first. Now, where is Erie? Yes, now 
go nearly south about fifteen miles to French Creek. 
That was the south end of the portage, and there the 
French built Fort Le Boeuf, or Buffalo Fort, the second 
in their chain. Now, follow French Creek down. Where 
would you expect the next fort to be?" 

"At Franklin," said James, after some study. 

"Why there?" 

"Because that is where French Creek flows into the 
Allegheny River." 

"Yes. The French built a fort there, and later the 
English built one, which they called Fort Venango. Now 
follow the Allegheny down to the next river junction." 

"Do you mean Pittsburg?" asked James. 

"Yes. You see the Allegheny and the Monongahela 
unite there to form the Ohio. The race for the pos- 
session of the Ohio valley was really a very close and 
exciting one. In 1749, some Americans formed the 
'Ohio Land Company,' which was to settle in the valley 
and build a fort. But before they did anything, Celoron 
came along and claimed the whole region for the French 
King. This he did by burying lead plates at half a 
dozen different places." 

"What kind of lead plates. Uncle?" asked Carrie. 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 45 

"They were sheets of lead about eleven inches long, 
seven and a half inches wide, and an eighth of an inch 
thick. On each plate was an inscription giving the date 
and place, and announcing that Celoron buried it 'as a 
monument of renewal of possessions' in the name of 
Louis XV, King of France. Two of these plates have 
been found, but the other four are still in the ground. 

"Well, small parties of Englishmen crossed the 
Alleghany mountains anyway, and the French then be- 
gan to build these forts. When the English heard of it, 
they sent George Washington, then only twenty-one 
years old, to protest. He met General St. Pierre at Fort 
Le Boeuf, and found that the Frenchmen were deter- 
mined to keep the country. Later a party of English- 
men came out to the site of Pittsburg and began to build 
a fort. But the Frenchmen came upon them, drove them 
away, and finished the fort themselves. Do you re- 
member what they called this fort?" 

"Fort DuOuesne," answered Carrie. 

"Yes. Well, it was by that time clear that the rival 
claims of the French and English would have to be 
fought out, and that is how the French and Indian war 
began. The English won, and the French had to give 
up not only the Ohio valley, but all of Canada." 

PONTIACS CONSPIRACY 

"You remember," continued Major Woods, "that 
when we were in the Mohawk Valley we learned that 
the French got along with the Indians better than the 
English did. Well, when the English took possession of 



46 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

Fort Presqu' Isle, and of Detroit, and of Mackinac, they 
naturally paid little attention to any agreements the 
French had made with the Indians, and the Indians in 
turn were not very well pleased, for they saw their 
hunting grounds occupied by the English, and what they 
looked upon as their rights disregarded. 

"One of the Indians, an Ottawa chief named Pontiac, 
was a man of very great power as an orator and ability 
as an organizer. Pontiac went about among the In- 
dians, urging them to join together and drive out the 
English, and finally united the Ottawas, the Ojibways, 
and the Pottawottamies. In 1763, the Indians captured 
nearly all the forts along the lakes, from Mackinac to 
Presqu' Isle, except Detroit, and for a time it looked as 
if the Indians would win. But the English finally over- 
came them, and Pontiac gave up the fight and formally 
made his submission to Sir William Johnson at Fort 
Oswego in 1766. A few years later, Pontiac was 
treacherously murdered by one of his own tribe at 
Cahokia, near St. Louis. In many ways Pontiac was 
the ablest Indian the white men have ever come in con- 
tact with. 

"Well, well, I think that's enough of a history lesson 
for one evening. Tomorrow we'll see what we can learn 
about Perry and the boats he built here at Erie. It's 
time small children were in bed, anyway." 

"We're not so very small, Uncle Jack," said Carrie, 
"but I am sleepy. It must be the lake breeze." 



NOTES AND QUESTIONS 



Lake Chautauqua (sha taw'kwa) is 800 feet above Lake Eric, 
which is only 8 or 9 miles north. Find on a map the outlet of 
Lake Chautauqua; into what does it flow? 

Jaques Cartier (zhak kartea') explored the St. Lawrence in 
1634 and 1635. 

Tell in your own words the story of the Erics. 

For an account of the Five Nations, see "The Mohawk Val- 
ley and Lake Ontario." 

Turn to a map of Pennsylvania, as James did, and find the 
places named on page 44. 

Trace on a map the journey of our party from Buffalo to 
Erie. How many miles did they travel? 

Some other proper names in this chapter are pronounced as 
follows: 

Celoron de Bienville (salo ron'debe yan veel'), 
Canandaigua (kan an da'gua), Lorain', 



Barcelona (bar selo'na), 
Allegheny (allega'ny), 
Presqu' Isle (preskeel'), 
Mackinac (mack'inaw), 
Le Boeuf (lebuff'), 
Tu-shu-way (too shoo' way), 



On on da'ga, 
Ashtabu'la, 
Monon gahe'la, 
Champlain (sham plain'), 
St. Pierre (sanpeair'), 
DuQuesne (doo kan'). 



Spell, pronounce, and explain the following words: 



chauffeur 

diary 

bateau 

irregular 

plateau 

peculiarly 

institutions 

civilization 



confederation 

challenge 

lacrosse 

relentlessly 

moccasins 

desperation 

intelligently 

vanquished 



alHes 

steerage 

wampum 

glimpse 

trophy 

generation 

prevailing 

opponent 



SHIP-BUILDING IN THE FOREST 



"Good morning, 
children !" said Major 
Woods, as he and 
Mrs. Woods met 
James and Carrie in 
the parlor of the ho- 
tel. ''Are you through 
breakfast already?" 

"Of course not, 
Uncle Jack," an- 
swered Carrie re- 
proachfully, "do you 
think we'd dare to go 
to breakfast without 
you and Aunt Lucy?" 

"No, my dear, I 
didn't really think you would. But what have you been 
doing?" 

"James and I went down to the harbor again, and 
a watchman on one of the piers pointed out Misery 
Bay to us, where they raised the 'Niagara,' you know." 
"Well, I'm glad you did that. After breakfast, we'll 
have to have another look at the atlas, and then see 
what we can learn about the rest of Perry's fleet." 




Oliver Hazard Perry 



50 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

When the meal was over, the Major led the way 
back to the parlor, and James opened the atlas at the 
map of Pennsylvania again. 

**Now, James," said the Major, "ships bn-ilt at Black 
Rock would have to get their equipment — ironwork, 
cordage, guns, and provisions — from one of two places. 
Do you know what those places are?" 

"One would be New York, w^ouldn't it?" 

"Yes. How would supplies come from New York 
in 1813?" 

"Up the Hudson and the IMohawk, down to Oswego, 
along Lake Ontario, and up around Niagara Falls," said 
James promptly. 

"Good. Where else could they have come from?" 

"I don't know, unless you mean Pittsburg." 

"How would supplies get to Black Rock from Pitts- 
burg?" 

"Up the Allegheny River and French Creek, then by 
portage to Presqu' Isle here, and then by Lake Erie." 

"Which do you think would be easier, to bring them 
from New York or from Pittsburg?" 

"It would be nearer to bring them from Pittsburg, 
and then, besides, there would be only one portage." 

"Right again. Now do you see why the 'Lawrence' 
and the "Niagara' were built at Presqu' Isle instead of 
at Black Rock?" 

"Of course. Presqu' Isle is so much nearer Pitts- 
burg than Black Rock is." 

"That's one reason. Give me another." 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 51 

"I'm not sure that I know. But I suppose that the 
British might have captured supplies on the way from 
Oswego to Black Rock, or on the way from Presqu' 
Isle." 

"Good boy! You are learning fast. Yes, the route 
from Pittsburg was much the shorter and easier, and 
the British had no chance to interfere. Then, here at 
Presqu' Isle, which was in a somewhat less settled region 
than Black Rock, there was plenty of timber in the for- 
ests close at hand, to be had for the cutting. 

"Even then, Perry was very lucky. For example, on 
July 20th, 1813, Barclay, the British commander, appeared 
off Presqu' Isle with five vessels. He might easily have 
sent his boats into the harbor some dark night and 
destroyed our vessels, which were afloat but not yet 
ready for service. There were several companies of 
militia stationed here on purpose to guard the vessels, 
but the men refused to go on board. For some reason, 
though, Barclay didn't venture in." 

"He wasn't as daring as Lieutenant Elliott was at 
Fort Erie, was he?" said James. 

"Indeed he wasn't. Well, on July 23d, when Bar- 
clay was still in sight. Perry had his vessels all equipped 
and ready — but he hadn't men enough to man them. Bar- 
clay at last sailed away on the 30th of July, and on Mon- 
day, the 2d of August, Perry began to get his ships over 
the bar, although he had only about three hundred men, 
instead of 740. That bar was the most troublesome thing 
about the harbor, for there were only four or five feet 



52 ^ LAKE ERIE AND THE 

of water on it, not nearly enough to float the 'Lawrence' 
and the 'Niagara.' 

GETTING OVER THE BAR 

"First, Perry sent his five smaller vessels across the 
bar, and they took up their positions just outside. Then 
the 'Niagara' and another small boat took their places 
just inside the bar. In addition, a battery of three long 
twelve-pounders was set up on the beach opposite the 
mouth of the channel and not more than a quarter of a 
mile away." 

"What's a 'twelve-pounder,' Uncle Jack?" asked 
Carrie. 

"A twelve-pounder, my dear, is a cannon that throws 
a twelve-pound shot. As soon as Perry had in these ways 
done all he could to protect the 'Lawrence' in case the 
British came back before she was safely across the bar, 
everybody set to work like fury. The guns of the 'Law- 
rence' were hoisted overboard into small boats, and 
long scows were brought alongside the 'Lawrence' and 
sunk. Next, these scows were made fast to the 'Law- 
rence' so that when the water was pumped out of them, 
they lifted the 'Lawrence' up with them. When that was 
done, they started to tow the 'Lawrence' across the bar, 
but she stuck at the shallowest place, and the 'camels,' 
as they called the floats, had to be sunk again so as to 
raise the 'Lawrence' still higher." 

"Why did they call the floats 'camels'. Uncle Jack ?" 
asked Carrie. 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 53 

"Because they sank down, had a load fastened on their 
backs, and then rose up with the load. Isn't that just the 
way a camel does? Well, it took them thirty-one hours 
of continuous work to get the 'Lawrence' out into the 
lake, and they had hardly got her outside and her guns 
on board and mounted once more, when Barclay appeared. 

"Nevertheless, Perry and his men set to work to take 
the 'Niagara' out in the same way. They hadn't nearly 
so much trouble with her, and by nine o'clock on Wednes- 
day evening, the whole fleet was out in the lake and 
ready for duty. Two days later, Perry set sail but saw 
nothing of the British fleet, so he came back to Presqu' 
Isle and took on supplies for the army, which was at 
Sandusky. In a few days more Elliott came from Black 
Rock with 102 men and was assigned to the 'Niagara.' 
As soon as they were settled, Perry sailed westward in 
search of the British. He found them safe in the harbor 
at Maiden, but though he had that day a wind that 
allowed him to cruise back and forth in front of the 
harbor-, Barclay could not be lured out." 

"Was Barclay afraid, Uncle?" asked James. 

"No ; he was a brave man, but, like Perry, he was 
short of men. So Perry established his headquarters at 
Put-in-Bay, where he could watch. And when we get 
over to Put-in-Bay, in a day or two, we'll find out what 
happened when Barclay did venture out." 

"Uncle Jack,'! asked James, "how did the 'Niagara' 
come to be sunk in Misery Bay?" 

"Well, it came about in this way. After the Battle 
of Lake Erie, the 'Lawrence,' which was the worst dam- 



54 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

aged of the American ships, was repaired and went on 
a voyage to Lake Huron. Then, after the war was 
over, as she was not very seaworthy, she was sunk in 
Misery Bay to preserve her. The waters of the lakes, 
you know, are not infested with borers and other things 
which do so much damage to woodwork in the ocean. 
If you will look at the piles, the next time you get to 
a harbor, you'll see that they are perfectly sound below 
the water, although they may be quite worn out and 
rotten above the water-line, where the sun and the air 
can get at them. In upper Michigan I have seen the 
lumbermen bring up watersoaked logs which had been 
lying on the bottom of the bay for years, and when they 
were sawed they were as sound as the day they were 
first cut in the forest. 

"Not a great while after the 'Lawrence' had been 
sunk, some of the captured British vessels were also 
sunk near her, and some time afterward, the 'Niagara.' 
One of the happiest results of the War of 1812 was that 
Great Britain and the United States made an agreement 
that neither country was to keep ori the Great Lakes 
more than one armed vessel, and that one was to be of 
not more than a hundred tons burden. The United 
States hasn't really lived up to the letter of that agree- 
ment, for the revenue steamer 'Wolverine,' which we 
may see somewhere before w^e get to Chicago, is a good 
deal larger than a hundred tons. But the spirit has been 
kept, for neither nation has any armed boats on the 
Great Lakes which could make the other country fear 
an attack." 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 



55 







K a 
Oh 

H 

< < 

t< 

fpq 



(A 
O t. 

^^ 
O 

offl 
o 






56 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

Why did they raise the 'Niagara,' Uncle?" asked 
James. 

"To celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the Battle 
of Lake Erie." 

"Well, then, why didn't they raise the 'Lawrence, 
too?" 

"Because there isn't enough of her left. About the 
time of the fiftieth anniversary, a part of the stern of 
the 'Lawrence' was raised and the pieces made into 
souvenirs. 

"Now, see here," and the Major looked at his watch, 
"I think we'd better take the next train for Conneaut. 
We can't stay here much longer, for we want to stop at 
two or three places before we reach Cleveland." 

THE WESTERN RESERVE 
An hour's ride from Erie brought them to Conneaut. 
When they got down to the harbor, they walked back 
along the shore to the east for a half mile or so. As 
they strolled along. Major Woods said to them: 

"You remember that I spoke yesterday of the 'West- 
ern Reserve,' but I didn't tell you what it was. James, 
you remember, don't you, that the charter of the colony 
of Connecticut gave it title to all the land between cer- 
tain degrees of latitude 'from sea to sea'? In time, 
however, both New York and Pennsylvania cut into its 
territory. Finally Connecticut gave up its claims to all 
but a section west of Pennsylvania. This portion it 
reserved for its. own use, and therefore called it its 'West- 
ern Reserve.' 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 



57 



"Late in the 18th century, Connecticut sold some 
three million acres of this land to a company which sent 
out General Moses Cleaveland to survey it, so that it 
might be either sold or divided. Well, when General 
Cleaveland and his party of fifty were on their way out 
to the Western Reserve, they crossed the Pennsylvania 
line on July 4th, 1796, and about five-thirty in the after- 




Along Shore, Near Conneaut 



noon came to Conneaut Creek. As it was Independence 
Day, they camped here, and in the evening celebrated 
both the day and their arrival on the Western Reserve. 
The next day they built a storehouse, and the surveyors 
set to work marking out the 'towns' by lines five miles 
apart. Some of the surveyors went down the Pennsyl- 



58 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

vania line, and then surveyed lines due west. Cleaveland 
himself went on along the lake shore to the mouth of 
the Cuyahoga, and began to lay out a town. 

"One family staid at Conneaut all the next winter. 
The father of the family had to make a trip back to New 
York on business, and fell sick there. When he reached 
Buffalo Creek again, it was the dead of winter and the 
snow was deep. But he found an Indian guide and 
pushed on to Presqu' Isle, where he bought twenty 
pounds of flour. Before he reached Conneaut his horse 
gave out, so he took the flour on his back and toiled 
waist deep through the snow to his cabin. There he 
found his wife lying weak and sick, and their baby dead 
of starvation." 

"How terrible !" exclaimed Mrs. Woods. 

"Yes, it was dreadful, but such suffering and priva- 
tions were not unusual in the life of pioneers." 

"Why did these people come out, Uncle Jack?" asked 
Carrie. 

"It was the pioneer spirit. To a certain type of 
people, who have some of the sturdier virtues — courage, 
daring, independence, joy in facing and overcoming diffi- 
culties — the frontier calls irresistibly. The Pilgrim 
Fathers, you know, staked everything on the chance of 
making homes in the wilderness. Their descendants, 
almost before the coast region had ceased to be a wilder- 
ness, pushed farther back to conquer new wildernesses, 
and their children have kept up the march eve-r since. 
I am not speaking now of the explorers, and the hunters 
and trappers, who find their occupation only in wild 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 59 

regions, but of the settlers, who cannot see a grbve of 
trees without the desire to cut them down in order to 
make a house of the logs, or an opening in the forest 
without wanting to piow it up and sow corn or wheat. 
The desire to take possession of the waste places and 
make them fruitful is, I suppose, at the bottom of it all. 
And thus far in our history, that desire has been a chief 
factor in our development. 

''Well, I wanted you to see Conneaut, because it was 
the first settlement in the Western Reserve. Now we'll 
go on to Ashtabula, and after lunch perhaps we can see 
some of the big ore boats unloading." 

A GREAT ORE PORT 

When they had finished their lunch at Ashtabula, 
Major Woods hunted up an acquaintance who was in 
charge of one of the ore docks, and he escorted them 
down to the harbor and out on to the great pier, long 
enough to hold whole trains of freight cars. The ']. 
Pierpont Morgan' was just beginning to unload, and the 
children watched open-eyed. Great scoops ran out on 
long arms, dropped with their huge jaws spread wide 
into the open hold, and caught up at each bite fifteen 
tons of ore, which they carried back to the dock, and 
dropped with a great clatter into the waiting cars. 

''My goodness!" said Carrie, "what a lot of ore! 
And what a monstrous big boat! How long is it?" 

"The 'Morgan'," answered their guide, "is six hun- 
dred feet long, fifty-eight feet wide, and holds over 
eleven thousand tons of ore." 



60 



LAKE ERIE AND THE 



''Vm afraid," said the Major, ''that mere figures 
don't mean much. Let's see if we can't get at it by 
corhparison. It's about as long as a city block, wider 
than two city lots, and nearly as deep as a three-story 
flat building. You could almost lay out a quarter-mile 
running track on the deck. 

"You said the 'Morgan' carries over eleven thousand 
tons of ore, didn't you?" continued the Major. "Well, 




Gee Boat Unloading at Ashtabula 

that much ore would fill over a hundred freight cars, and 
they would make a train nearly a mile long." 

"Fifteen tons at a bite," said Mrs. Woods. "I 
haven't any idea how much that is." 

"Well, if a man had a shovel that held sixty pounds 
of ore, he would have to throw a shovelful every minute 
for more than eight hours, in order to move what one 
of those scoops handles in four or five minutes." ' 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 



61 



They stood for some time watching the great scoops; 
then, thanking their guide, they bade him good-bye and 
went back to the station. At Painesville they left the 
train again, and Major Woods found an automobile to 
take them to Fairport on the lake, three miles north. 

''I wanted you to see this place," said the Major, 
after they had reached the shore, and were comfortably 




Along the Shore, Painesville 



seated on the edge of the bluff, "because the shore here 
gives you some idea of how Cleveland looked in the 
early days. Fifty years ago, this was counted one of the 
best harbors on the lake." 

After they had sat for some time, enjoying the rest- 
ful quiet of the scene, they went back to Painesville, 
and took the interurban to Cleveland. 



NOTES AND QUESTIONS 

Misery Bay is in the northwest corner of the harbor at Erie. 

The agreement between the United States and Great Britain 
not to keep warships on the Great Lakes was made in ^17. 
With the consent of Great Britain and Canada, the U. S. Navy 
Department has of late years "lent" such vessels as the "Nash- 
ville" and the "Dubuque" to the Naval Reserves of the states 
bordering on the Great Lakes. These vessels are, however, not 
fully manned, and when they pass through the Canadian canals 
their guns are removed and shipped by land. 

Maiden is now Amherstburg (am' erst burg), Ontario. Find 
it on the map. 

The "Western Reserve of Connecticut" comprised all the 
land between 41° and 42^2' North Latitude, extending 120 miles 
west from the west line of Pennsylvania, with the exception of 
some portions previously assigned. Cleveland, therefore, was 
about the middle of the north line of the Reserve. 

Trace on a map the journey from Erie to Cleveland. How 
far is it? 

Some of the proper names in this chapter are pronounced as 
follows: 

Conneaut (konneawf), Cuyahoga (ky a ho' ga). 

Spell, pronounce, and explain the following words: 



equipment 


cordage 


provisions 


militia 


opposite 


continuous 


established 


seaworthy 


burden 


anniversary 


souvenirs 


independence 


charter 


colony 


privations 


pioneers 


difficulties 


irresistibly 


waste 


factor 


development 


cupolas 


coke 


navigable 



CLEVELAND IN THE EARLY DAYS 




Cleveland in 1800 



"Uncle Jack, didn't you say you had a picture of 
Cleveland in 1800?" asked Carrie, at the breakfast 
table. 

"Yes I have. I'll show it to you when we go up to 
the parlor. What did you do before breakfast this 
time?" 

"Oh, we went out on to the viaduct to see what we 
could see." 

"Well, what did you see?" 

"We saw lots of things, trains, and steamers, and 
sailing vessels." 



64 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

''Uncle Jack," said James, "they've made the harbor 
here right out in the lake, the way they did at Buffalo, 
haven't they ?" 

"Yes, and do you see why they did that, instead of 
merely digging out the river, as they have done at Chi- 
cago ?" 

"I hadn't thought about it. Why?" 

"Well, tell me how they happened to need a viaduct 
here." 

"Oh, I see now. The river valley was too narrow 
and the banks too high. Is that what you mean?" 

"Exactly. Did you notice, though, an inner harbor, 
running west from the river?" 

"Yes, sir.'-' 

"That was an old channel of the Cuyahoga, already 
stopped up when the first settlers came here. At first 
it caused a great deal of sickness, because it was a stag- 
nant pool that bred millions of mosquitoes. .But the 
city dredged it out and made a harbor of it. 

"Now, if you are through, let's go up to the parlor," 
and the Major led the way out of the diningroom. 

"Here's that picture," he said. "You can see from 
it what a deep valley the Cuyahoga made." 

"Uncle," asked James, "why should Cleveland be 
so much bigger than Fairport or Ashtabula ?" 

"At first, the mouth of the Cuyahoga was more im- 
portant than the mouth of the Grand or of the Ashta- 
bula, because, as an old map of 1760 records, 'Cayahoga, 
a creek that leads to Lake Erie, which is muddy and 
not very swift, and nowhere obstructed with falls or 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 65 

rifts, is the best portage between the Ohio and Lake 
Erie. The mouth is wide, and deep enough to receive 
large sloops from the lake, and will hereafter be of great 
importance.' As early as 1755, according to another 
map, a French trader had a hut on its banks some five 
miles from its mouth, and near two Indian villages. 
Then, in 1786, a Pittsburg firm sent overland a half 
dozen pack trains, each consisting of ten men and ninety 
horses. These trains carried flour and other supplies, 
and the agent built a log house at the mouth of the 
Cuyahoga on the west side, where the goods were stored 
until the schooner 'Mackinaw' came into the river to 
take them on to Detroit. So you see that even before 
there was a settlement here, this was on the way from 
one important place to another. 

**Then, in 1796, General Cleaveland laid out his town 
on the east side of the river, and built one or two 
houses." 

*'Why did Cleaveland put his town on the east side of 
the river. Uncle?" asked James. 

"Because in 1797, the Cuyahoga formed part of the 
western boundary of the United States. The land west 
had not then been surrendered by the Indians. There's 
a map of Ohio hanging on the wall over there. Follow 
the Cuyahoga south about twenty-five miles ; what do 
you find?" 

"Twenty-five miles? That just about brings us to 
Akron." 

"Yes, and right through where Akron now is there 
was a portage of eight miles to the Tuscarawas branch 



66 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

of tlie Muskingum River. Where does the Muskingum 
empty ?" 

"Into the Ohio at Marietta." 

"Right. Now, the other day, you found another 
portage between Lake Erie and the Ohio. Where was 
that?" 

"Do you mean from Erie to Pittsburg?" 

"Yes. Now look on the 'west side of the map for 
tlie Miami River." 

"Does it flow into the Ohio or into Lake Erie? Oh, 
yes, here it is, clear over in the corner beyond Cin- 
cinnati." 

"Now follow it up to the north, and see how you 
would get across to Lake Erie." 

"You could get across to the Alaumee, which comes 
out at Toledo." 

"Right. That is the way Celoron went back when 
he had buried his lead plates along the Ohio." 

"Oh, Uncle Jack," interrupted Carrie, "Celoron 
wasn't the only Frenchman who went around burying 
plates. I saw a paragraph in a paper which said that 
some girls found one out in Fort Pierre, South Dakota, 
which was buried in March, 1743, by a man with an 
awfully funny name." 

"I suppose that was Pierre Gauthier, Chevalier de la 
Verendrye." 

"Yes, that's the name. How did you know?" 

"I was reading Pierre's report to Governor Beauhar- 
nais not long ago. Pierre's brother Louis was with him. 
and their father was also an explorer. But we are 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 67 

getting away from the subject. Now, James, how far 
is the Cuyahoga-Muskingum route from the other two?" 

"Why, it's pretty nearly half way between them. 
But, Uncle Jack, the canal from Cleveland comes into 
the Ohio at Portsmouth instead of at Marietta." 

"Well, let's see if you can't figure it out. Do you 
remember when and why the Erie canal was built ?" 

"Yes, sir, in 1825, to give the commerce of the lakes 
an outlet to New York." 

"Right. The Ohio canal was opened in 1835 ; would 
it contribute to the commerce of the Erie canal?" 

"I suppose it would give people in the Ohio valley 
an outlet at New York." 

"But why shouldn't the commerce of the Ohio valley 
go up to Pittsburg, and across to New Y^ork that way?" 

"Because to get from Pittsburg to New York, you 
have to cross the mountains." 

"Exactly. Before the railroads were built, water 
transportation was the only way of getting products to a 
distant market at a price that would both sell them and 
leave a profit. Now, the opening of the Ohio canal not 
only gave farmers down in the middle of the state a 
market for their grain, but it built up a trade in pottery. 
After all, you see, transportation is the essential thing. 
A farmer who cannot market his wheat, for example, 
is not likely to raise much more than he can use. But if 
he can ship his wheat out profitably, he will raise bigger 
crops, and with his increased sales he will buy more 
goods from other places. In that way, you see, a canal 
or a railroad actually creates traffic. 



68 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

"That partly answers your question, James, for a 
canal down through the center of the state to Ports- 
mouth drew traffic from a wider region than if it went 
the shorter way. Besides, in 1841, a canal was opened 
from Akron, at the summit of the Ohio canal, to Beaver, 
Pennsylvania, which gave direct communication with 
Pittsburg. These canals — the Erie, the Ohio, and the 
Pennsylvania — in the days before the railroads, gave 
Cleveland its first importance as a distributing point. 

**When the railroads finally came, they helped too. 
There had been stage coach service between Cleveland 
and Columbus since 1820, and the first railroad sup- 
planted this in 1851. The next year there was a rail- 
road from Pittsburg, which followed roughly the old 
trail of 1786. In 1852, also, the line from Buffalo 
reached Cleveland. 

''But the greatest item in Cleveland's growth was yet 
to come. In the very year in w^hich Cleveland and Pitts- 
burg were connected by rail, the Marquette Iron Com- 
pany shipped half a dozen barrels of iron ore to Cleve- 
land on the ship 'Baltimore.' The fact was hardly no- 
ticed at the time, but the opening of the canal at Sault 
Ste. Marie in 1855 made Cleveland the natural point for 
the trans-shipment of ore, just as the Erie canal had 
made Buffalo the great grain market. Even more im- 
portant was the fact that Cleveland was thus at the 
point where ore could be brought cheaply from Lake 
Superior, and coal from the Mahoning Valley west of 
Pittsburg. And that is why thousands of products of 
iron and steel are made and marketed at Cleveland. 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 69 

''Of course, other lake ports — Ashtabula, Lorain, and 
Erie, for example — are as much halfway points between 
coal and iron as Cleveland is, but Cleveland's growth in 
the early days gave her the start of these other places. 

"Well, well, it's worth while to know some of these 
things, but I think you youngsters will have more fun 
out of doors. Suppose we go on to Lorain. The papers 
this morning say they are to launch a big cargo boat 
there today. Perhaps you'd like to see it." 

''Perhaps we'd like to see it! Why, Uncle Jack, of 
course we want to !" said Carrie, jumping up excitedly. 
^ "Very well, Fll be ready in ten minutes." 

LAUNCHING A BIG BOAT 

An hour later they were in Lorain, and were following 
the crowd down to the shipyard. At the gate. Major 
Woods produced a card which admitted them to a place 
from which they could see all that went on. 

"My!" exclaimed Carrie, as they looked at the huge 
rounded hull. "How deep she is!" 

"She shows her depth because she is clear out of the 
water," answered the Major. "When she is loaded she'll 
be considerably more than half hidden. Her rudder, for 
instance, will hardly show at all." 

"Why," said James, who had been looking about, "how 
are they ever going to launch so long a boat in so narrow 
a place?" 

"Well," answered the Major, "just look a little closer 
and see if you can't make it out." 

"They aren't going to launch her sideways, are they?" 



70 



LAKE ERIE AND THE 



"Yes, that is the custom on the lakes. The 'Walk-in_- 
the-Water' was one of the first to be launched that way. 
You can see that it is very convenient, tor she just slides 
down into the slip." 

'That's funny ! Not long ago Carrie and I saw a 
moving picture of the launching of the 'Olympic,' and she 
went into the water end on." 




''Yes, I know that is the usual way in foreign ship- 
yards. But you remember, don't you, that the 'Olympic' 
floated out into a big bay before the tugs caught her? 
Here, you see, they don't need very much open water. 
But watch closely now; they must be nearly ready. Ah! 
there she goes !" 

Slowly the great hulk began to move down the gentle 
slope of the greased ways, pushing the water up before 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 71 

it in a wave of frothing white that raced against the piles 
at the other side of the sHp. For some time the vessel 
rocked from side to side before settling to an even keel. 

ON THE TRAIL OF A GLACIER 

When all was over our party slowly made its way 
back to the hotel, and after lunch went on to Sandusky. 
Here they went at once to the dock and caught a steamer 
to Kelley's Island. 

"Why are we going to Kelley's Island, Uncle?" asked 
Carrie. 

'To see some of the finest glacial markings in the 
country. Do you know what they are?" 
"No, sir; I never heard of them before." 
''You know what a glacier is, don't you?" 
"Yes, sir; it's a great lake or river of ice up in the 
mountains." 

"Well, long ages ago, so long ago that even the geolo- 
gists don't agree by some thousands of years, all this part 
of North America was covered by huge glaciers, great 
sheets and rivers of ice. And the marks we are going to 
see are the scratches they left on the rocks as they flowed 
southward." 

" 'Flowed,' Uncle ? How can ice flow ?" 
"Well, how did that boat go into the water?" 
"Why, it coasted down those greased i)lanks." 
"Yes, but why did it slide down?" 
"Because it was heavy and the planks were slippery." 
"Well, isn't ice both heavy and slippery? If a great 
mass of ice is on a sloping surface, its weight and its 



72 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

slipperiness will make it move down the slope. They call 
the movement a 'flow,' because if the glacier is in between 
hills or mountains, it will make its way down the valleys 
just as a river does. Now, as it goes — very slowly, of 
course — it carries along with it some of the earth and 
boulders along its edges, just as a stream of water does. 

*'A river, flowing over hard rocks, finally wears them 
smooth, but a glacier, because it is hard, and because 
some of the boulders it carries along are hard and are 
held fast in it, not only smoothes off the hard rocks it 
flows over, but makes scratches on their surfaces. And 
thus it leaves a record of its passage just as certainly as 
a bear or a moose leaves tracks in the soft mud." 

''Is that the only way they can tell that there was a 
glacier here once?" asked James. 

"Oh, no; glaciers drop the sand and dirt and boulders 
along their way just as a river deposits its sediment in 
the places where its current is slowest. When we find 
huge blocks of granite scattered over the surface of the 
country here where there are no granite strata exposed, 
and when we know that up on Lake Superior and beyond 
there are beds of granite, we naturally conclude that a 
glacier brought these boulders from up there. In that 
way, too, we can tell in what direction the glacier must 
have flowed." 

"My ! isn't it wonderful !" said James, as they stood 
looking at the marks. "Just to think that these scratches 
were made thousands of years ago !" 

"Yes," agreed Major Wood, "and to the student these 
scratches make a record as plain as if someone had writ- 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 73 

ten them out. It's part of the handwriting of the agesr 
The whole face of the earth is covered with signs wliich 
the scientists are translating and piecing together bit by 
bit into a connected history. When you get a little older, 
you'll have a chance to study some of them." 

PUT-IN -BAY 

Slowly they walked along the harbor, and before long 
caught another boat which took them to Put-in-Bay. As 
they came around the end of the island and into the bay, 
James asked : 

**Uncle, did it look this way when Perry was here?" 

"Hardly. Like most other places along the Lakes, 
this place has fairly sprouted with hotels and summer 
cottages. But I found the other day, in an old history, 
a picture of Put-in-Bay as it was fifty or sixty years ago. 
I imagine it hadn't changed much since Perry's time." 

When they reached the hotel and had been shown to 
their rooms. Major Woods said : 

"Now, children, you may go and explore the island 
until dinner time." 

So they went, and saw all of the caves the island 
boasted, and were delighted with the underground lake, 
the wishing well, the roof of crystals, and the stalactites. 
Just as they were leaving the last cave, Carrie suddenly 
exclaimed : 

"Oh, Jim ! don't you remember in the Tee Queen,' how 
Aleck got lost on the island, and when Tug and Katy 
and Jim found him, he had fallen into a cave? I wonder 
if it was this island ?" 



74 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

"No, I don't think it was. But it was down at this end 
of the lake." 

After dinner as they all sat on the piazza in the moon- 
light, and looked out over the bay, Carrie said: 

"Jim, when we were on the 'Scud' last week, you re- 
member we found that Lake Ontario was the smallest of 
the five lakes, don't you ? How much bigger is Lake 
Erie?" 

"I don't remember," answered James, "but we can 
look it up. I think I saw a map in the lobby. Come on, 
and we'll see." 

Carrie followed him into the hotel, and when they 
came back, Major Woods asked them what they had 
found out. 

"Lake Erie's just a little bigger than Lake Ontario," 
said James. "Lake Ontario is only about 200 miles long, 
but it's nearly 260 miles from Buffalo to Toledo." 

"I suppose the map didn't tell you that Erie is the 
shallowest of the lakes ; it's only about two hundred feet 
deep." 

"I think that's pretty deep," said Carrie. 

"Oh, yes," said the Major, "that's deep enough to hide 
any ship that might sink in it, but it doesn't mean that 
there would be a deep hole left if Lake Erie should dry 
up. James, suppose you get a pencil and sheet of paper, 
and do a little figuring. You said that Lake Erie is about 
260 miles long. Now see if you can find out the ratio- 
of 200 feet to 260 miles." 

"About one to 6,864, Uncle." 

"What does that mean?" 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 



75 



'That Lake Erie is nearly 7,000 times as long as it is 
deep?" 

"Yes. Now, to get some idea of how shallow that is, 
see if you can figure out how deep a pond a mile long 
would be, if it had the ratio of length to depth that Lak§ 
Erie has." 

"Why!" exclaimed James, after he had nearly covered 
his sheet of paper with figures, "it would only be about 
nine inches deep!" 




Put-in-Bay as it was 



"Yes, Lake Erie owes its importance, in this genera- 
tion at least, not to its size, but to its geographical posi- 
tion, and to the fact that its outlet is barred by Niagara 
Falls. If it hadn't been for the Falls, Perry might not 
have needed to build a fleet on Lake Erie. And there- 
fore, if it were not for the Falls, perhaps we would have 



76 



LAKE ERIE AND THE 



staid on the mainland today, instead of comi.ng out here 
to see the place where Perry won his famous victory." 

''Well," said Carrie, "I'm glad the Falls are where 
they are. It would have been too bad to miss this beauti- 
ful place." 

"I think so, too," added Mrs. Woods, rising, "and I'm 
going to enjoy at least one night's sleep out of sight and 
sound of a railroad. So I think I'll say goodnight." 



NOTES AND QUESTIONS 

On a map trace the route of the pack trains from Pittsburg 
to Cleveland. How far is it? 

Find on a map the canal from Cleveland to Portsmouth; 
from Akron to Beaver, Penna. ; from Toledo to Cincinnati; the 
Sault Ste. Marie (soo sent ma ree') canal. 

Check up James's figures and see how near right he was. 

Why should the Niagara Falls make it necessary for Perry to 
build a fleet on Lake Erie? 

Trace the iourney of our party from Cleveland to Put-in- 
Bay. How far did they travel.^ 

Some other proper names in this chapter are pronounced as 
follows: 

Tuscarawas (tus kara' was), Beauharnais (boharnay'), 

Pierre Gauthier, Chevalier de la Verendrye (pe air' go tea', 
sheval'ya de la verondree'). 

Spell, pronounce, and explain the following v/ords: 

viaduct stagnant rifts 

transportation communication distributing 

considerably launch slip 

glacial glacier geologists 

slipperiness boulder sediment 

granite stalactites advertising 



A SAIL ON THE LAKE 




Perry's Battle Flag 



"Now children," said Major 
Woods, as they finished their 
breakfast, "this is Friday, 
and the Battle of Lake Erie 
was fought on Friday, the 
10th of September, 1813. 
What do you say to going over 
the story of the battle right at 
the place where it all hap- 
pened ?" 

"Can we go out un the lake to where they had the 
battle. Uncle Jack?" asked James. 

"Yes Fve found a staunch-looking sailboat with 
a captain and crew who seem to be steady and reliable. 
The captain is a fisherman, and his two sons are the 
crew. So get your sweaters and we'll start in half an 
hour or so. Lucy, you'd better see about the lunch, for 
I don't think we want to depend entirely on fisherman's 
fare." 

"Oh, goody !" said Carrie, "I've never been out in 
a sailboat. Won't it be fun! Come on, Jim! Fll beat 
you to the end of the hall." 

The children were all ready in fifteen minutes, but 
it was half an hour later before the lunch was packed 
and the baskets and cushions safely stowed in the sail- 
boat which was moored alongside the dock. There was 



78 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

just enough breeze to make an occasional whitecap, and 
the captain assured them that they would do very well 
if the wind held. As soon as the two brown-skinned, 
silent young men who formed the crew, had pushed 
the boat clear of the dock, they raised the sail, and 
the boat began to slip through the water. Carrie was 
timid at first and held on tight, especially when the boat 
listed as the wind filled the sail. But when she saw that 
the boat kept on its way as smoothly as if it were on 
rollers, her courage returned and she enjoyed even 
ducking her head and changing sides when the boat 
tacked and the boom had to be swung over. 

So long as they were in the harbor, where there 
were steamers and motorboats to pass and exchange 
greetings with, there was little conversation. But when 
they had gone to the northeast between South Bass and 
Middle Bass, and had tacked so as to come fairly close 
to the upper end of North Bass, their thoughts came 
back to the battle. 

''Uncle Jack," asked James, "how did the battle' 
happen to take place out here? Was it just accident?" 

"Oh, no. It was almost certain to be fought out 
in the open lake, and at this end. You see, while Perry 
was straining every nerve to build and fit his boats at 
Erie, Barclay, the British commander, was doing pre- 
cisely the same thing at Maiden, up at the mouth of the 
Detroit River. Barclay, like Perry, also had trouble 
in getting force enough to man his ships. You've already 
heard about how much work Perry had in getting the 
'Lawrence' and the 'Niagara' over the bar at Erie. Now, 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 79 

as soon as he succeeded, the Americans had on Lake 
Erie a somewhat larger fleet than the British had. Bar- 
clay stayed at Maiden until his flagship, the 'Detroit', 
was ready, and might have stayed longer, but for the 
fact that Perry's fleet kept him from getting provisions 
from Long Point. He saw that he must soon fight or 
starve, and he chose to fight. Put-in-Bay is about 
thirty miles southeast of Maiden, and so situated that the 
British fleet could hardly pass down the lake without 
being seen by the Americans, unless, of course, there 
should be a heavy fog. 

THE ENEMY IN SIGHT 

"At sunrise on that Friday morning in September, 
1813, the lookout at the masthead of the 'Lawrence' 
reported that the British fleet was in sight in the north- 
west, coming, of course, from Maiden. The wind then 
was from the southwest, which was in favor of the 
British, but before the battle began it shifted to the 
southeast, which gave the Americans the advantage 
for the rest of the day. 

"The two fleets were much alike. Each had two very 
good ships, and one intermediate one. Then the British 
had three light craft — gunboats — while the Americans 
had six. The cannon were of two kinds, what they 
called the iong guns,' which threw thirty-two pound 
shot a considerable distance, " 

"What do you call 'a considerable distance,' Uncle 
Jack?" asked James. 



80 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

"Oh, for effective work, between a half and three- 
quarters of a mile. The rest of their guns were small 
ones, then called 'carronades,' which threw smaller shot 
and could not be used effectively at a range of much 
more than a quarter of a mile. Now, the 'Lawrence,' 
which was Perry's flagship " 

"What's a flagship, Uncle?" asked Carrie. 

"The flagship, which is usually the best in the fleet, 
is the ship which carries the commander-in-chief. It 
flies his special flag, and the other vessels look to the 
flagship for orders. Well, as I was saying, the 'Law- 
rence' had a couple of 'long guns,' but the rest of her 
cannon were carronades. The 'Detroit,' which was Bar- 
clay's flagship, had more long guns than the 'Law- 
rence,' so that when the 'Lawrence' went to attack -the 
'Detroit' she would have to sail for some distance exposed 
to the fire of the 'Detroit's' long guns before she got 
close enough to reply with her carronades." 

"That was an advantage for the British, wasn't it, 
Uncle?" asked James. 

"Yes; especially in a light wind." 

"What difference would the wind make, Uncle Jack ?" 
asked Carrie. 

"A strong wind drives a ship through the water 
rapidly, but a light wind will move the vessel slowly. 
It's like the difference between running and walking. 
If James and another boy were having a snowball fight, 
for instance, and the other boy could throw a hundred 
and fifty feet, while James could throw only a hundred 
feet, James would be under fire for fifty feet before he 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 81 

could do anything. Now if James could run those fifty 
feet, the other boy wouldn't have time to hit him very 
often; but if James had to zvalk those fifty feet, the 
other boy would have a chance to hit him several times, 
if he could throw straight. A light breeze, then, would 
mean that the ship with the heavier guns could pound 
the enemy for quite a while before he could get near 
enough to hit back. 

**\Vhen Barclay saw that Perry was coming out to 
meet him, he arranged his fleet in a long line, with 
the 'Detroit' at one end, followed by the 'Lady Prevost,' 
his intermediate vessel. His other big boat, the 'Queen 
Charlotte', was third, and the three small boats followed 
her. Perry arranged his line of battle to correspond, 
the 'Lawrence' opposite the 'Detroit,' the 'Caledonia' 
opposite the 'Lady Prevost', and the 'Niagara' opposite 
the 'Queen Charlotte.' 

'DON'T GIVE UP THE SHIP' 

"As Perry started to leave Put-in-Bay. he hoisted 
his battle flag, which he had had made at Erie. Pm sure 
I have a picture of it some where. Yes, here it is. The 
letters were in white on a blue ground." 

"Where did he get that motto. Uncle?" asked Carrie. 

"That motto came from another naval battle between 
the Americans and the British. On the afternoon of the 
first of June, 1813, while Perry was still building his 
boats at Erie, Captain Lawrence, one of the bravest and 
most dashing officers of the United States Navy, sailed 
out of Boston harbor on his ship, the 'Chesapeake,' to 



82 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

fight with the British ship 'Shannon.* Both vessels 
waited until they were close together before they began 
firing. The duel lasted only about ten minutes, for in 
that short time the 'Chesapeake' was shot almost to 
pieces, and Lawrence and his first officer were mortally 
wounded. As the sailors carried Lawrence below, he 
called out, 'Tell the men to fire faster, and don't give 
up the ship.' As a .matter of fact, the Americans did 
not surrender until the British fought their way onto the 
deck of the 'Chesapeake' and pulled down the flag them- 
selves. Although the British had won, Lawrence at 
once became a national hero, and his last words were 
made a sort of battle cry. So, you see, Perry was mak- 
ing a double appeal to his men in naming his flagship for 
Lawrence and in putting on his battle-flag Lawrence's 
last words, 'Don't give up the ship.' 

THE PLIGHT OF THE 'LAWRENCE' 

"The wind was so light that it was nearly two hours 
after Perry weighed anchor " 

"What does that mean, Uncle?" asked Carrie, again. 

"Don't you know, James?" 

"Yes, sir ; it means that the ships raised their anchors, 
so that they could sail out of the harbor." 

"That's it. As I was saying, it was nearly two hours 
after Perry started before the two fleets came close 
enough to begin the battle. As Perry's fleet came within 
long range of the British, the 'Scorpion,' one of the two 
gunboats which had orders to keep a little ahead of 
the 'Lawrence,' fired the first gun of the battle. At a 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 83 

quarter before noon the 'Detroit' fired on the 'Lawrence/ 
which did not reply for ten minutes. As I have said, 
the 'Lawrence' had only two long guns, and because the 
wind was light, by the time she was near enough the 
'Detroit' to use her carronades, much of her rigging 
had been carried away by the enemy's shot, and she 
was becoming unmanageable. 

"The 'Caledonia,' which, followed the 'Lawrence,' 
was a rather slow-sailing vessel, and the 'Niagara,' which 
came next, was for some reason a long time in getting 
into close range. As a result, the British ship, 'Queen 
Charlotte,' which should have been kept busy by the 
'Niagara,' was free to come up and help the 'Detroit' 
batter the 'Lawrence.' The 'Lawrence' was short of 
men to begin with, and during the hottest of the fight 
the officer in charge of one of the guns came up to 
Perry and said he had no. men left to work the gun. 
So Perry asked the surgeon to lend him one of the men 
assigned to help care for the -wounded. Pretty soon that 
man was killed or badly wounded, and Perry borrowed 
another man from the surgeon's staff. This borrowing 
was repeated until finally the surgeon reported that he 
had no more men left; Perry had taken them all. 'Then,' 
said Perry, 'send me some of the wounded.' So a few 
men who were less badly hurt than the others crawled 
on deck again and tried to work the gun. 

"By two-thirty in the afternoon, the 'Lawrence* had 
only one gun left out of ten in the broadside. The 
others had been knocked over or broken." 

"What's a broadside, Uncle?" asked James. 



84 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

"Well, let's see. Suppose we had six or eight small 
cannon to mount on this sailboat we're on now. Where 
would you put them? Remember that they have to be 
so placed that the men will have room to work them." 

"Why, I suppose I might put one in the bow, and 
one in the stern, and the rest along the sides." 

"V^ery well. Now suppose you were going straight 
toward an enemy. How many guns could you use?" 

"Only the bow gun, I suppose." 

**Now then, suppose you wanted to use as many guns 
as possible. What would you do?" 

"Why, I'd turn the boat so that I could use all those 
on one side." 

''Right, and all the guns on one side form a broad- 
side. Now, let's get back to the 'Lawrence.' By two- 
thirty, besides having only one gun on the side next the 
enemy, most of her rigging had been shot away, her 
sails had been cut into ribbons, her spars were splintered, 
and only one mast remained. But from that still streamed 
the stars and stripes. Out of her crew of 103 men, 83 
were dead or wounded. 

'IVE HAVE MET THE ENEMY' 
"But, although the 'Lawrence' was no longer able 
to fight, Perry had no thought of giving up. Then he 
did a very daring and unusual thing. Leaving the flag 
of his country still fluttering from the masthead, he 
hauled down his battle flag, and with his brother Alex- 
ander and four seamen, got into a boat and started to 
row across to the 'Niagara,' which was then some dis- 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 85 

tance away, but coming into close range. Cannonballs and 
bullets flew all around him, but Perry stood straight and 
fearless, a target for all the British gunners. After a 
few minutes, when the boat had been struck several 
times, the seamen refused to go farther unless Perry 
would sit down and stop exposing himself unnecessarily. 
After a perilous trip of nearly a quarter of an hour, 
Perry reached the 'Niagara' unharmed, at once hoisted 
his battle flag again, and ordered the 'Niagara' into the 
thickest of the fight. 

"The 'Lawrence' struck her flag " 

"What do you mean by that, Uncle?" asked Carrie. 

"Don't you know?" said James. "He means she 
hauled down her flag in token of surrender. Don't you, 
Uncle?" 

"Exactly. Well, the 'Lawrence' struck her flag, but 
the British had no chance to accept her surrender, for 
the 'Detroit' was in almost as bad shape as the 'Law- 
rence.' One of her officers said after the battle, that 
there was hardly a place on her hull as big as your 
hand that did not show some mark of the skill of the 
American gunners. The 'Queen Charlotte' and the 
'Lady Prevost' were badly damaged, too, and within ten 
minutes after Perry reached the 'Niagara' the 'Queen 
Charlotte' surrendered, and was quickly followed by 
the 'Detroit' and the 'Lady Prevost.' Two of the smaller 
British boats tried to escape, but the 'Scorpion,' which 
had opened the fight, chased them, and in capturing 
them fired the last shot of the battle. 



86 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

''Captain Barclay, who had lost an arm at Trafal- 
gar, was severely wounded, and had to be taken below. 
Do you know anything about the battle of Trafalgar, 
James?" 

"No, sir, I don't think I do." 

"Well, before I tell you any more, I think we'd better 
have some lunch. I'm hungry as a bear. I hope you 
brought enough, Lucy." 

'T think there's a plenty. You know this isn't the 
first time I've been called on to prepare picnic lunches 
for you." 

"Oh, isn't this just lovely !" cried Carrie. "This is 
more fun than sitting on the grass by the roadside." 

"Yes," said James, "there's no trouble getting rid 
of the chicken bones here. I'm ready for another drum- 
stick. Aunt Lucy, please." 

"Now, Uncle Jack," said Carrie, while the children 
were still eating cookies, and Major Woods had lighted 
a cigar, "you were going to tell us about Trafalgar." 

"The battle of Trafalgar was fought off Cape 
Trafalgar, which is in southern Spain, not so very far 
from the Strait of Gibraltar, in October, 1805. The 
English fleet under Admiral Horatio Nelson attacked a 
French fleet which had been in the harbor of Cadiz. 
Nelson was killed in the battle, but the English won, 
and captured or destroyed every vessel in the French 
fleet. That battle was of immense importance for 
Europe, because if the French fleet could have got into 
the English Channel for only a few hours. Napoleon 
Bonaparte could have landed a huge army in England. 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 87 

That fight, too, had its famous battle cry in Nelson's mes- 
sage, 'England expects every man to do his duty.' 

'To go back again to the Battle of Lake Erie. The 
'Scorpion' did not return with her prize for two or three 
hours. Then Perry was rowed back to the 'Lawrence,' 
for he felt that the battered, bloodstained deck of the 
ship which had really won the battle, was the proper place 
for him to receive the formal surrender of the British 
officers. But he showed himself chivalrous as well as 
brave, for when they came on board and each in his 
turn presented his sword. Perry courteously refused to 
accept them, and treated his prisoners as brave men 
like himself. Then, using his cap for a desk, he wrote a 
brief dispatch to General W. H. Harrison, who was in 
command of the American army waiting to attack De- 
troit. Its first words have often been quoted since, for 
they tell briefly and without any flourishes the simple 
facts : 






88 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

'Then, slowly, in the clear, calm moonlight, the two 
hattered fleets made their way back to the harbor Perry 
had left that morning. The next day, with all the 
honors due to heroes, the dead of both fleets were buried 
on the shore under a willow tree." 

After a pause, James asked : 

"Uncle Jack, why do you say the 'Lawrence' had 
really won the battle? You said she had to strike her 
flag after Perry left her." 

"Because out of a total loss for the Americans of 
twenty-seven killed and ninety-six wounded, twenty- 
two of the killed — all but five — and sixty-one of the 
wounded were on the 'Lawrence.' Then, too, the 'Law- 
rence' had so nearly finished the 'Detroit' and the 'Queen 
Charlotte' that Perry completed the victory within ten 
minutes after he reached the 'Niagara.' " 

"Is the Battle of Lake Erie one of the great naval 
battles. Uncle?" asked Carrie. 

"Not in the number or size of the vessels engaged, 
or in the number of men. Perry's 490 men would hardly 
be half enough to man a modern battleship. But the 
Battle of Lake Erie was the first one in which an 
American squadron had fought and captured a whole 
British squadron. The other naval battles of the war 
had been duels with only one or two ships on a side. The 
efifect of the victory was enormous, for a young American 
oflicer, with a fleet composed of sailing vessels roughly 
made over into warships by mounting a few guns on 
their decks, and two brigs hastily built in the forest, had 
defeated an English fleet under a man who had served 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 89 

honorably at Trafalgar. Perry's victory was a great blow 
to English pride. Its immediate results on Lake Erie 
were of the utmost importance, too. General Harrison 
was waiting to know if he could have support in his 
campaign against Detroit. You see, in this part of the 
world, supplies had to be brought largely by water, and 
the capture of the British fleet meant that the Americans 
controlled Lake Erie and the points along its shores on 
the Canada side, so that the British had trouble in pro- 
visioning their garrisons west of Niagara." 

"What would have happened if the British had won, 
instead of the Americans?" asked Carrie. 

"No one can tell positively, my dear. A British 
victory would probably have prolonged the war and 
increased the sufferings of the settlers on the frontier, 
though it is not at all likely that the English would ever 
have conquered the United States. The most the Eng- 
lish could do was to attack places along the edges of the 
country, and hinder our foreign commerce. 

"Now it must be time for us to turn back toward 
Put-in-Bay. With this light wind, it will take us two 
or three hours to get into the harbor again." 

The little fishing boat brought them to the dock just 
in time for a late dinner, and as soon as the Major 
had had his after dinner smoke, they all turned in and 
slept too soundly to dream even of battles. 



NOTES AND QUESTIONS 

The Battle of Lake Erie was fought about ten miles north" of 
Put-in-Bay. 

On a map find: Put-in-Bay; South, Middle, and North Bass 
Islands; the mouth of the Detroit River; Long Point, Ontario. 

Some of the proper names in this chapter are pronounced as 
follows: 

Prev'ost, Trafal'gar, Cadiz (kadeez'), 

Napoleon Bonaparte (napol'eon bon' a part). 

Spell, pronounce, and explain the following words: 

staunch reliable enlisted 

boom tacked situated 

masthead intermediate craft 

considerable effective mortally 

plight unmanageable spars 

rigging unnecessarily immense 

importance chivalrous courteously 

enormous brig schooner 

sloop honorably immediate 



MAJOR CROGHAN AND ''OLD BETSY. 



"Well, children," said Major Woods at 
the breakfast table, "I hope you slept well, 
for we are going to have a strenuous day 
of it." 

''I'm ready for anything; I slept like a 
top," answered James. 

"So did I, Uncle," said Carrie, "I think 
we can stand about as much as you can. 
But what are we going to do that is so 
strenuous? Detroit isn't very far away, is 
it?" 

"No, but I happened to remember that 
Colonel Webb C. Hayes, who was in China 
when I was, not only lives at Fremont, a 
little way up the Sandusky River, but is said 
to know more about Ohio history than any- 
body else around here. So I called him up 
on the long distance 'phone to ask if we 
might pay our respects to him, and he hag 
invited us to take lunch with him. I know he can tell 
us a lot about the early settlements of this section — 
things that I don't know at all. Therefore, instead of go- 
ing to Toledo for lunch and then up to Detroit in the 
afternoon, we'll do well if we reach Detroit by bedtime. 



m 



92 



LAKE ERIE AND THE 



*'Now, let's get started right away. We have only a 

few minutes before the boat sails." 

Inside of fifteen minutes they were aboard the steamer 

and on their way to Sandusky. As they left the bay they 

saw a three- 
masted lum- 
ber schooner 
east bound 
with all sails 
set. 

*'I wonder, 
d i d Perry's 
ships look as 
fine as that?" 
''That looks 
very much 
like them," 
answered 
the Major, 
* ' H e r e ' s a 
copy of an 
o 1 d painting 
of the 'Niag- 
ara' in action. 
Ycu can see 
how alike 
they were." 
"Oh, isn't it beautiful !" exclaimed Carrie. 
"Yes, it's undoubtedly beautiful," answ^ered the 

Major, "but steamers are quicker and less dependent on 




The "Niagara" in Action 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 93 

wind and weather. Yesterday w^e were in no hurry, and 
our Httle sailboat was just what we wanted. But this 
morning we need the steamer and the train, if we are to 
keep our appointments. They make it possible for us to 
travel rapidly without being hurried. If we had to spend 
most of our time in merely getting from one place to 
another, we wouldn't have much left for sightseeing." 

When they reached Sandusky they caught an early 
train and were at Fremont almost before they knew it. 
Colonel Hayes met them at the station with his auto- 
mobile, and drove them first to Fort Stephenson Park. 

"This park," said Colonel Hayes, ''occupies the site 
of Fort Stephenson, which was built on the military res- 
ervation established first in 1785. Before that, a couple 
of centuries, the Wyandottes had here a 'Free City' or 
neutral town, and in the Revolutionary War the British 
established a post here, so that the fort which Major 
Croghan so skilfully defended in 1813 was not the first 
fort on this site. There is no other fort in the country 
which is like this in these three respects : its entire site 
is a public park, its defender is buried here, and," laying 
his hand afifectionately on "Old Betsy," "its entire arma- 
ment is still here." 

"Do you mean," asked James, "that that one Httle 
cannon was all the artillery Major Croghan had?" 

"Exactly that. This one little six-pounder, a naval gun 
which the British had captured from the French in the 
French and Indian War, was the only piece of artillery 
in the fort. But Major Croghan very shrewdly had it 
moved about and fired, now from one blockhouse, now 



94 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

from another, so as to make the British think he had a 
whole battery. I suppose Major Woods has told you all 
about the battle?" 

*'No, Colonel Hayes, I have purposely left that for 
you." 

"Well, then, I must tell it very briefly. Early in July, 
1813, while the British General Proctor, with Tecumseh 
and his Indians, was for the second time besieging Fort 
Meigs over on the Maumee, and while Perry was work- 
ing night and day to finish and equip his fleet at Presqu* 
Isle, Major Croghan was in command at Fort Stephenson 
with 160 men. The site of the fort was ill chosen, be- 
cause it was commanded by the high ground over there 
across the river. Croghan offered to move the fort, but 
General Harrison was afraid the British would come be- 
fore he could finish. Moreover, the fort was a flimsy 
stockade in bad condition. But Croghan patched it up, 
and dug the ditch which proved so important in its de- 
fence. He set his men to making cartridges, and sent 
away the women, children, and sick men. 

"When General Harrison learned that Proctor was on 
his way, he sent orders to Croghan to destroy the fort 
and retreat that night. But the messenger did not reach 
Croghan until the next inorning, and Croghan sent back 
word 'We have determined to maintain this place, and 
by heaven we can.' Croghan expected the message to 
fall into Proctor's hands, but it came safety to Harrison, 
and Croghan was at once relieved of command and re- 
called to Fort Seneca, a few miles up the 'river. He 
satisfied Harrison, however, and returned to his post. 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 95 

"General rroctor sailed around into Sandusky Bay 
and up the river,' with a part of his force, and called 
upon Croghan to surrender. He urged that, since the 
British could of course take the place by storm, surrender 
would avert a massacre at the hands of the Indians. 
Croghan refused, and the British at once began a bom- 
bardment. Fortunately they had only six-pounders and 
small howitzers, so they did no material damage, though 
they kept up the fire through the night. Croghan had 
only 'Old Betsy,' but he moved her about, as I have said, 
from place to place. 

"In the afternoon of August 2nd, Croghan observed 
that the British were concentrating their fire on the 
northwest angle of the fort, and concluded that they 
meant to make an assault there. So he moved 'Old 
Betsy' to the blockhouse which commanded the ditch, 
concealed her behind a masked porthole, loaded her with 
a half charge of powder and a double charge of leaden 
slugs and grapeshot, and waited. About five o'clock, the 
British charged, and when the ditch was full of men, 
Croghan fired 'Old Betsy' at them, at a range of about 
thirty feet. Practically every man in the ditch fell either 
dead or wounded, and the British retreated. Early the 
next morning Proctor went ofif down the river in such 
disorder that he left behind him a gunboat loaded with 
supplies. 

"As Croghan reported to General Harrison: 'My 
whole loss during the siege was one killed and seven 
wounded slightly. The loss of the enemy, in killed and 
wounded and prisoners, must have been 150.' According 



96 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

to Sergeant Gaines, the last survivor, who told me his 
story at Washington many years ago, the one man killed 
lost his life by rashness. 'Samuel Thurman,' he told me, 
'was in the blockhouse and determined to shoot a redcoat. 
He climbed up on top of the blockhouse and peered over, 
when a six-pound ball from the enemy's cannon took 
his head off.' " 

"My!" exclaimed James, ''Major Croghan was aw- 
fully lucky, wasn't he !" 

"Yes," answered Colonel Hayes, "in one respect. H 
General Proctor had brought up his heavy artillery, he 
could have battered in the stockade. But, after all, 
Croghan earned his victory by care and foresight. He 
dug the ditch, and he saw through Proctor's plans and 
took just the right steps to thwart them." 

"Was it one of the great battles ?" 

"Hardly that. But, coming just as it did, it was of 
great value to the American cause. Up to that time the 
Americans had had but little success on their western 
frontier, so that Croghan's gallant defence of this poor 
little fort against British regulars who had served under 
^^'ellington, gave great encouragement. It also left Har- 
rison free to advance to the lake. Some of his men, you 
know, volunteered for service on Perry's fleet. The de- 
fence of Fort Stephenson, therefore, marked the begin- 
ning of American control of the lake region." 

"Colonel Hayes," said Major Woods, "I wish you'd 
tell us something more about Major Croghan." 

"Gladly. As General Harrison wrote in his report: 
'It will not be among^ the least of General Proctor's 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 97 

mortifications to know that he had been baffled by a 
youth who had just passed his twenty-first year.' He 
was born in Kentucky, in November, 1791, and one of 
his uncles was George Rogers Clark, who made that won- 
derful march through the wilderness to Vincennes, 
twenty years before Croghan was born. In November, 
1811, Croghan was with Harrison at the battle of Tip- 
pecanoe, and when the War of 1812 began, entered the 
army as a captain of the 17th U. S. Infantry. For 
bravery at Fort Meigs in April, 1813, he was made a 
Major. After the war he left the army for a time, but 
reentered the service, became Colonel and Inspector Gen- 
eral, and was active in the Mexican War, especially at 
the siege of Monterey. He died of cholera at New 
Orleans in 1849, and until just a few years ago his burial 
place was lost sight of. But in 1906 we found his grave 
in Kentucky, near Louisville, and brought his remains 
here to be buried beside the monument erected in his 
honor at the scene of his greatest exploit. 

"Now I think we'd better go on to Spiegel Grove and 
then to lunch." 

As they drove into the grounds of President Ruther- 
ford B. Hayes' old home, Colonel Hayes pointed- out the 
remaining half mile of an old Indian trail. 

'This," he said, "was one of the old Indian trails 
from Lake Erie to the Ohio River, the Sandusky-Scioto 
Trail, and is now known as the Harrison Trail because 
General Harrison and his troops followed it both when 
they went down to Lake Erie after Croghan's victory, 
and when tliev came back after the battle of the Tliames." 



98 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

OLD FORT SANDOSKI 

At lunch Major Woods said: 

"Colonel Hayes, hasn't the name Sandusky caused 
some confusion in this region?'' 

*'It has, indeed. Within fifty miles along the river 
there have been five places named Sandusky. Fremont, 
vi^hich is at the Lower Falls, was called Lower Sandusky 
until 1849. Upper Sandusky has kept its name, and so 
has Little Sandusky above it. The present city of San- 
dusky, originally Portland, dates only from 1830 or 1840, 
and Port Clinton, formerly Portage, is near the site of 
the original Fort Sandoski, which Mr. Charles W. Bur- 
rows and I definitely located only a few years ago. Fd 
like to take you down there, and show you the old port- 
age. You can get a train from Port Clinton to Toledo, 
so it will not be out of your way." 

''Thank you very much," answered Major Woods, 
"we'll be very glad to do as you say." 

Soon they were in a motorboat gliding smoothly down 
the beautiful Sandusky River. As they came to its 
mouth. Colonel Hayes told them the story of old Fort 
Sandoski. 

"The first Fort Sandoski," he said, "was built here 
in 1745, by some British traders from Pittsburg, who 
got permission from Nicolas, a Huron chief. Nicolas 
had withdrawn from Detroit, then French headquarters 
for this region, and when the French defeated him in 
1748. he burned the fort and the villages before removing 
to the Illinois country. In 1750, the British rebuilt the 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 99 

fort, but the next year the French 'usurped' it, and in 
1754 another party of Frenchmen on their way to Detroit 
camped near here in August and 'discovered the ruins of 
the old fort.' They soon, however, built Fort Junandot 
across the bay. 

*The third Fort Sandoski was built in January, 1761, 
by British rangers under Major Robert Rogers, on his 
return from Detroit, whither he had gone to receive that 
place from the French, on the surrender of French sov- 
ereignty in America. Rogers left Ensign Pauli and fif- 
teen men here, who were in charge until May, 1763, when 
the Indians burned the fort and massacred all of the gar- 
rison but Pauli, whom they carried off to Pontiac, then 
besieging Detroit. The Indians doomed poor Pauli to 
marry a squaw, but he managed to escape. 

'Tn 1764, Colonel Bradstreet and Israel Putman were 
here with British and Colonial troops, and went up the 
river as far as the Lower Falls, now Fremont. In 1813, 
after Proctor's retreat and Perry's victory. General Har- 
rison marched his troops across the portage here. Be- 
cause Perry's ships were to transport the men across the 
lake, Harrison had a brush fence built clear across the 
neck of the peninsula, and thus made a pasture of fifty or 
sixty thousand acres. The troops left their horses here 
with a small guard, and when they returned victorious, 
caught them again and rode back to Kentucky." 

. ''This monument you see," he continued, when they 
had landed, "is probably unique as marking the site of a 
fort occupied during periods of Avar, first by the native 
Indians, then by the French, then by the British, and fin- 



100 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

ally by the Americans, though fifty years after its final 
destruction." 

"Why did they make this portage, instead of going 
around by water?" asked Major Woods. 

"I don't know. The Indians, the French, and the 
Americans, all used the portage, and only th^ British 
went around by w^ater. It saved nearly fifty miles and, I 
suppose, was quicker and less dangerous than going 
around into the open lake." 

It was now near train time, and after thanking 
Colonel Hayes for his kindness, they bade him goodbye, 
and went on to Toledo. 

'Tf we didn't have to catch that afternoon steamer for 
Detroit," said Major Woods, ''it would be interesting to 
visit a glass factory. In the neighborhood of Toledo are 
some exceptionally fine deposits of glass sand, and as a 
result, Toledo is one of the centers of the fine glass trade. 
Some of our best cut glass is made here. 

"James, you remember you found the other day that 
a canal was dug from Toledo to Cincinnati at the same 
time the Ohio canal was built. Toledo also had in those 
days another canal connecting Lake Erie with the 
Wabash River. At that time waterways not only fur- 
nished transportation that was cheap, but for bulky 
ireight it was fairly quick, as compared with hauling by 
wagons over poor roads. People didn't realize then how 
quickly the railroads were to develop. Of course, when 
the railroads did come, about 1850, they at once took 
away the importance of the canals." 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 101 

''How did they do that, Uncle Jack?" asked James. 
"If that is so, why are they rebuilding the Erie canal?" 

"Because of three things. First, travel by railroad 
was ever so much quicker than by canal. Then, freight 
put into a railroad car at any point, could be taken to any 
point where there was a railroad, without being handled 
again. But freight shipped on a canal had to be shifted 
to lake boat or train as soon as it left the canal. The 
other reason was that the railroads tried — and for the 
most part successfully — to put the canals out of business, 
so as to end their competition with the railroads. 

"But you ask why they are rebuilding the Erie canal. 
They are doing so in part to restore the competition 
which the railroads destroyed. There is also another 
reason. Big canals, which will admit boats large enough 
and strong enough to travel safely on the lakes and 
rivers, furnish a means of transportation for many kinds 
of freight, such as lumber and coal, which do not need 
to travel quickly if only they can be moved cheaply. The 
great canals of the world are now ship canals, constructed 
because it was thought worth while to make a passage 
for big boats from Lake Superior to the other lakes, 
from Lake Ontario to the lower St. Lawrence, from 
the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, and from the Carib- 
,bean to the Pacific. 

"In digging these great canals, engineers have de- 
vised some wonderful methods and machinery, which 
make the work quicker and cheaper. Their success has 
set people to planning other canals. For example, you 
may live to see completed a canal which was talked about 



102 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

nearly a hundred years ago — from Toledo across the 
peninsula to Lake Michigan." 

''Why would that be a good thing, Uncle?'' asked 
James. 

''Because it would make a short cut from Chicago and 
Milwaukee. It would save the long and sometimes 
dangerous trip the whole length of Lake Michigan and 
around through Lake Huron. It would also lengthen 
the season somewhat, for ice at the Straits of Mackinac 
often delays the boats when the lower lakes are free 
from ice. When we get up on Lake Huron next week, 
perhaps we'll see where another great canal has been 
planned. If this canal to Lake Michigan should be dug, 
Toledo would become more important than it is now. 

"Well, well, here we are. Nov/ for the steamer." 

LIGHTHOUSES AND RANGE LIGHTS 

In what seemed a very short time, they were settled 
on the upper deck of the steamer and going down the 
Maumee River, into the bay. As they came out into the 
lake. Major Woods called their attention to the light- 
houses. ^ 

"We've already seen a number of them," he said, 
"but we'll see still more of them in getting from the 
mouth of the Detroit River up to Lake Huron. If you 
had them all on a map, with the circles showing how 
far each one throws its light, you'd see that each circle 
overlaps the one on each side of it, so that a vessel which 
gets near shore is never out of sight of at le^st one light- 
house." 



STORY OF COMMODORE PERRY 103 

"How can sailors tell them apart, Uncle?" asked 
Carrie. 

*'By a very simple device. Every lighthouse has a 
revolving light. If the Hghthouse on the breakwater 
at Cleveland, for instance, shows a white light for thirty 
seconds, and then is dark for thirty seconds, the one at 
Lorain may show a white light for forty-five seconds, and 
be dark for fifteen seconds. You see you can get a 
great many combinations that way. Then, some light- 
houses show alternate red and white lights, sometimes 
with intervals of darkness. Each lighthouse, then, is con- 
stantly giving a signal which tells the sailors which one it 
is, just as plainly as if it had its name in great letters." 

As soon as they got into the Detroit River, Major 
Woods called their attention to still another kind of light. 

*'Do you see that light right in front of us?" he 
asked. "Now if you'll look sharp, you'll see another one 
beyond it. Do you see, too, that we are keeping those two 
lights in a straight line by going right toward them? 
Now, watch a few minutes, and see what happens." 

Presently the steamer turned sharply to the left. 

"Look, Uncle," cried Carrie, "there are two more 
lights, and we are going straight toward them!" 

"Those lights are called range lights. They are not 
put up to tell the sailors what harbor or dangerous rocks 
they are near, but to show them how to steer to keep in 
a safe channel. When we get up into the St. Clair, we'll 
find the narrower channels marked by posts and buoys, 
so that the steamer can't go wrong, if it only follows 
directions," 



2 \91S 



104 LAKE ERIE AND THE 

"Well, well," said Major Woods, as they came up to 
the pier at Detroit, "we're here in time for a late dinner 
after all. Tomorrow we'll get a good rest, and Monday 
we'll find out what there is to see in Lake Huron and 
the country of the Algonquins." 

NOTES AND QUESTIONS 

The Mexican War, brought on by the annexation of Texas, 
lasted from March, 1846, to February, 1848. 

Find on a map the canal from Lake Superior to Lake Huron; 
from Lake Ontorio to the lower St. Lawrence; from the Medi- 
terranean to the Red Sea; from the Caribbean to the Pacific. 

Trace on a map the possible route of a canal from Toledo to 
Lake Michigan. How many miles would it save from Chicago 
to Cleveland? Find the Straits of Mackinac. 

For an interesting article on Lighthouses, see the "Magazine 
of the National Geographic Society" for 1913. 

Trace the journey of our party from Put-in-Bay to Detroit. 
How many miles did they travel ? 

How far did our party travel between Buffalo and Detroit? 
How is it from Buffalo to Detroit by boat direct? 

Spell, pronounce, and explain the following words: 

strenuous appointments military 

reservation artillery armament 

cartridges maintain reHeved 

massacre bombardment howitzers 

concentrating masked grapeshot 

mortifications exploits permission 

besieging victorious destruction 

successfully competition devise 

breakwater range device 



SIXTH GRADB. 

Stories of Our Mother £urth. By Harold 
W. Fairbanks. Ph. D. Illustrated 
by Mary H. Wellman with 27 full- 
page illustrations. An Intensely in- 
teresting and instructive work on 
Nature Study. Price 50 cents. 

No. 89. Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and 
Rip A'^an Winkle. By Washington 
Irving, with biography notes, etc. 
79 pages. Price 10 cents. 

No. 94. Oliver Wendell Holmes. The 
Chambered Nautilus, Old Ironsid*»s. 
The Last Leaf. 11 pages, with por- 
trait, an Illustration, notes, and in- 
troduction. Price 2 cents. 

No. 95. William CuUen Bryant. To a 
Waterfowl, The Fringed Gentian. 11 
pages, with poriratt, notes and in- 
troduction. Price 2 cents. 

No. 96. John Greenleaf Whittier. The 
Corn Song, The Huskers. 11 pages, 
with portrait, an illustration, notes, 
and introduction. Price 2 cents. 

No. 97. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 
The Reaper and the Flowers, The 
Builders. 11 pages, with portrait, 
notes, an Illustration, and Introduc- 
tion. Price 2 cents. 

No. 98. James Russell Lowell. The 
First Snowfall, A Day In June. 11 
pages, with portrait, notes, an illus- 
tration, and introduction. Price 2 
cents. 

No. 40. The Great Stone Face. Haw- 
thorne. 48 pages. With illustrative 
questions by Skinner. Price 5 cents. 

No. 41. The Snow Image. Hawthorne. 
48 pages. Price 5 cents. 

No. 42. The King of the Golden River. 
Ruskin. 47 pages. Price 5 cents. 

No. 44. The Great Carbuncle. Haw- 
thorne. 38 pages. With a study by 
Miss Kavana. Price 5 cents. 

No. 99. Selections from American Poets. 
Containing all the material in Nos. 
94 to 98. Price 10 cents. 
SEVENTH GRADE. 

Tales of Our New Possessions. An ex- 
tremely timely book. By R. Van 
Bergen. Edited by Harr Wagner. 
Containing the most attractive ac- 
count of the people, industries, and 
country of our new possessions in 
the Pacific Ocean. A most useful 
book. Beautifully illustrated In 
color, line, and half-tone illustra- 
tions, illuminated board binding. 
Price 50 cents. 

No. 2. Selections from Washington, Lin- 
coln, Bryant, McKinley. Including 
the Declaration of Independence. A 
book of patriotic selections. Night- 
ingale. 78 pages. Illustrated. Price 
15 cents. 

No. 24. Lays of Ancient Rome. By 
Macaulay. 106 pages. 21 illustra- 
tions. Price 15 cents. 

No. SO. Seven Selections from the Slcetch 
Book. Illustrated, and with biog- 
raphy, notes, etc. 140 pages. En- 
ameled covers. Price 15 cents. 



No. 46. Evangeline. By Longfellow. 64 
pages. Portrait, introduction, sketch 
of American literature, biographical 
sketch of Longfellow, with chrono- 
logical list of leading poems, his- 
torical introduction upon Acadia. 
The poem is followed by several 
pages of questions and suggestions 
for the study of the poem, with sub- 
jects for composition work. Price 
10 cants. 

No. 39. Enoch Arden. Tennyson. 42 
pages. Price 5 cents. With a study 
by Miss Kavana. 

No. 92. Enoch Arden and Other Poems. 
By Alfred Tennyson. Price 10 cents. 

No. 86. Rime of the Ancient Mariner. 
By Coleridge, and 
Elegy in a Country Church Yard. 
Gray. Price 10 cents. 

EIGHTH GRADE. 

No. 38. The Deserted Village. Gold- 
smith. 24 pages. With a study by 
Miss Kavana. Price 5 cents. 

No. 91. A Deserted Village, The Trav- 
eler. By Goldsmith. Illustrated. (58 
pages. Price 10 cents. 

No. 27. Selections from Lincoln, Haw- 
thorne, Webster, Goldsmith ar^d 
Tennyson. 136 pages. Enameled 
covers. With a series of studies by 
Miss Kavana. Price 15 cents. 

No, 29. The Merchant of Venice. En- 
ameled covers. Cloth back. With 
introduction, suggestive outline, and 
questions. Price 15 cents. 

No. 47. Bunker Hill Oration. Webster. 
Paragraphs numbered. With a series 
of questions. Price 5 cents. 

No. 69. The Cotter's Saturday Night. 
Text only. Price 4 cents. 

No. 85. Julius Caesar. By Shakespeare. 
With notes and suggestions for 
teaching. 98 pages. Price 10 cents. 

No. 90. A Cliristmas Carol. By Charles 
Dickens. 98 pages. Price 10 cents. 

No. 93. Selections from Edgar Allan 
Poe. The Gold Bug. The Raven, The 
Bells, and Selected Poems. 112 
pages, 3 illustrations, and portrait. 
Price 15 cents. 

No. 100. Selections from Adelaide A. 
Procter. Consisting of A Lost Chord, 
Incompleteness, The Angel's Storj, 
The Names of Our Lady. With por- 
trait, biography, a series of studies, 
and suggestive questions. Price 10 
cents. 

No. 101. Selections from Eleanor C. 
Donnelly. Consisting of Unseen Yet 
Seen, The Legend of the Robes, 
Little Vestry, and the White Scap- 
ular. With portrait, biography, a 
series of studies and suggestive 
questions. Price 10 cents. 

No. 105. Selections from Cardinal New- 
man. Containing Lead, Kindly Light; 
Callista, Loss and Gain, a portion of 
Dream of Gerontius, with Selected 
Poems. Also portrait, biography, a 
series of studies, and suggested 
questions. Price 10 cents. 



No. 84. Vision of Sir Lannfal and Other 

Poems. By James Russell Lowell 

Price 10 cents. 
No. lOS. Selections from Rev. A. J. 

Ryan, and from Jolin Boyle O'Reilly. 

Price 10 cents. 

FOR HIGH SCHOOLS. 

NINTH GRADE. 

Jalins Caesar — Twentieth Century Edi- 
tion. Edited by C. L. Hooper, of N. 
W. Division High School. Chicago. 
144 pages. Cloth. Illustrated. With 
notes and questions. Price 30 cents. 

No. 102. Selections from Fredericlc W. 
Faber. Consisting of The Cherwell 
Water-Lily. The Styrian Lake, Char- 
acteristic Extracts from Bethlehem 
Conferences, All for Jesus. At the 
Foot of the Cross, etc. With por- 
trait, biography, suggestive ques- 
tions, and notes. Price 20 cents. 

No. 10. Four Great Classics. Containing 
Burke's Speech on Conciliation, 
Coleridge's Ancient Mariner, The 
Vision of Sir Launfal, and The Holy 
Grail. Cloth. 40 cents. Edited by 
Rushton. 

No. 14. The Vision of Sir Lannfal, The 
Holy Grail. Enameled covers. Prlvie 
15 cents. 

No. 59. Wordswortii, Browning:, Keats. 
Selections. With portraits. Price 16 
cents. 

No. 104. Selections from Cardinal Wise- 
man. Price 10 cents. 

TENTH GRADE. 

Macbeth. Edited by C. L. Hooper. 155 
pages. Price 30 cents. 

Ab You Like It. 127 pages. Price 30 
cents. Twentieth Century Edition. 
Edited by C. L. Hooper, of N. W. 
Division High School, Chicago. Il- 
lustrated. With copious notes and 
questions. 

No. 48. Sir Roger De Coverley Papers. 
Dracass. Illustrated. With portrait. 
Full cloth bound. Price 25 cents. 

No. 65. Essays of Elia. (Five). Lamb. 
Cloth back. Enameled covers. 57 
pages. Price 15 cents. 

No. 68. Shelley's Poems and the Ancient 
Mariner. Cloth back. Enameled 
covers. 23 illustrations. Price 15 
cents. 

ELEVENTH GRADE 
No. 40. Selection from English Poets. 

Edited by J. J. Burns. 
COLERIDGE — The Ancient Mariner, 
Christabel, Kubla Khan, France, An 
Ode. 




016 095 493 



®T' LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
WOl 

itj 

A 

So, 

wli 

to 

Vei 
KEA 

Grecian Urn, Ode to a Nigiitlngale, 

Ode on Melancholy. To Autumn. 

Sonnets: 1. On first looking into 

Chapman's Homer. 2. On the Grass- 
hopper and Cricket. 
BYRON — Childe Harold, III and IV, 

Cantos (abridged). Price 35 cents. 
No. 5. Selections from Bums's Poems 

and Songs. Enameled coveirs. 00 

pages. Price 15 cents. 
No. 6. Carlyle's Essay on Bums. Edited 

by Walter Slocum. Cloth back. 

Enameled covers. With an analysis. 

Price 15 cents. 
No. 8. Carlyle's Essay on Bums and 

Selections from Bums's Poems and 

Songs. Full cloth bound. Price 30 

cents. 
No. 56. Imaginary Conversations. (Five), 

Landor. Cloth back. Enameled 

covej's. 78 pages. Price 16 cents. 

TWELFTH GRADE. 

Hamlet. 208 pages. Full cloth. With 

a series of notes and questions by C. 

L. Hooper. Price 30 cents. 
No. 18. Milton's Minor Poems. DooUttle. 

75 pages. Enameled covers. Cloth 

back. Price 15 cents. 
No. 19. Milton's Poems. Full cloth 

bound. Revised. Price 20 cents. 
No. 20. Macaulay's Essay on Milton. 

Enameled covers. Cloth back. Price 

15 cents. 
No. 21. Macaulay's Essay on Milton. 

New edition. Full cloth binding. 

Price 20 cents. 
No. 22. Macaulay's Essay on Addison. 

Enameled Covers. Cloth back. Price 

15 cents. 
No. 33. Milton and Addison* essays by 

Macaulay. Full cloth bound. Side 

stamp. Price 30 cents. 
No. 35. Macaulay's Essay on Milton and 

Milton's Poems. Fielden. Same as 

18 and 20. Full cloth bound. Price 

30 cents. 
No. 50. Selections from English Prose. 

Edited by J. J. Biirns. 
BURKE — A Letter to a Noble Lord. 
LAMB — Essays of Ella (five). 
LANDOR — Imaginary Conversations 

(five). 
Price 30 cents. 



Other numbers In Preparation. The publishers will quote discounts on application. 
Pull descriptive catalogue on application. 

All paracrraphs are numbered in Classics Nos. 2. 6, 1 1, 20. 22. 26. 27. 40, 41. 42, 44, 46. 



AINSWORTH £y COMPANY. 

023-633 South Wabash Avenue, Chicago 



